Power Restored: Only One Customer Without It in Darien [Updates]

Update 11:48 p.m.:

Only one customer in Darien remains without power as of 11:32 a.m., according to Eversource — a normal number.

As many as 657 were without power as of 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the utility.

Update 10:26 a.m.:

As of 10:17 a.m. there were still 75 customers without power in Darien, Eversource reports.

Update 7:08 a.m.:

Darien police announced in a tweet: “Middlesex Rd. remains closed to traffic between Ox Ridge Lane and Saddle Ridge Rd. (area of Ox Ridge Hunt Club) due to storm damage.”

This is the first Darien Police Department announcement of any road closures since the storm went through town Wednesday night to Thursday morning. Darienite.com asked police for information on road closures on Thursday and received no reply.

At 6 p.m. Thursday afternoon, the Darien Times reported: “First Selectman Jayme Stevenson told The Darien Times that Middlesex Road by Hansen and Ox Ridge Road, Sedgwick by Robin Hood Lane, and Leroy Avenue by the railroad remain closed.”

Update 6:45 a.m., Friday:

A total of 81 customers are still without power as of 6:43 a.m., according to Eversource.

Update 8:19 p.m., Thursday:

The number of customers without power in Darien is beginning to go down after a night and a day — as of 8:15 p.m., the number was down to 182, according to the Eversource outage map Web page.

It’s a start.

Update 4:32 p.m.:

With 220 customers still without power in Darien and 30,737 across the state, Eversource says it will have power back for 99 percent of it’s Connecticut customers by 11:30 p.m. on Friday.

Meanwhile, Gov. Dannel Malloy has issued a “Limited State of Emergency” declaration that will allow utility crews from Canada to come to the state to help with restoration.

Here’s the governor’s news release:

Governor Dannel P. Malloy today declared a limited State of Emergency to help accelerate power restoration efforts following last night’s storm that produced heavy rain, strong winds, and power outages across the state.  The declaration is necessary to assist out-of-state utility crews in their efforts to help power restoration in Connecticut.

“This declaration is necessary to allow utility crews from Canada to enter the United States and help with power restoration in the state,” Governor Malloy said.  “I am committed to do everything in my authority to help the residents of the state who are still without power and this declaration will help that effort.”

As a result of this order, Eversource will be able to bring in needed crews to help achieve its goal of 99 percent restoration of power by late tomorrow night.

State emergency management officials continue to work with the state’s utilities and local communities to help facilitate full power restoration.

Update 2:01 p.m.:

Eversource issued this announcement about its restoration activity:

With winds gusting over 75 miles-per-hour in some locations and torrential rain soaking a majority of Connecticut, Wednesday night’s powerful storm caused extensive damage across the state, interrupting electric service to more than 89,500 Eversource customers.

The company’s line and tree crews have been working non-stop and have already restored power to more than 50,000 since the storm began.  Eversource crews from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as contractors from New York and Pennsylvania, will soon be assisting with the restoration effort.

“The wet ground from the heavy downpours coupled with the strong winds last night caused trees and limbs to fall, tearing down power lines and utility poles across our service territory,” said Peter Clarke, Senior Vice President of Emergency Preparedness at Eversource. “We recognize being without electricity for any length of time is difficult, and we assure our customers that we are focused on restoring service as quickly and safely as possible to all those affected.”

The company’s early focus is on clearing blocked roads, making downed wires safe and restoring the largest areas of outages.  After assessing the widespread and vast destruction to the electric system, Eversource expects to have power restored for a majority of customers by 11:30pm Friday night.  The company restores outages affecting the largest number of customers first, so outages that affect a smaller number of customers may take longer, as they are oftentimes more labor-intensive.

Eversource crews and contractors are focused on a safe and speedy restoration and the company reminds the public to stay clear of downed lines and to call 9-1-1 to report them immediately.  Anyone experiencing a power outage should report it to Eversource at 1-800-286-2000, or on Eversource.com.

Update 1:49 p.m.:

Not only has the number of customers without electricity in Darien not gone down since 7:30 this morning, it’s actually edged up slightly, to 219 now without power.

It was 204 early this morning, then 214 by 8:24 a.m. Meanwhile, the number without power across Eversource’s service area in most of Connecticut has slowly been dropping, according to a utility Web page. As of now, 40,402 customers are without power.

The hardest-hit communities in Connecticut appear to be on a rough diagonal line running from the southwest part of the state (with Danbury and Ridgefield being much harder hit) up to the northeast “Quiet Corner.”

Greenwich appears to be the hardest-hit town — with 10 percent of customers in the dark.

Update 8:41 a.m.:

“New Haven Line Service is now operating on or close to schedule,” Metro-North announced at 8:32 a.m. in a tweet and emailed announcement.

Update 8:30 a.m.:

Darien schools did not announce any delayed openings or closures for Thursday, but that wasn’t the case in some nearby towns.

Schools opened as usual in Stamford, Norwalk, Wilton and Weston, but schools were closed in New Canaan and Westport for the day and delayed two hours in Greenwich, according to the WFSB-TV website’s “Closings and Delays” Web page.

Update 8:24 a.m.:

Slightly more customers in Darien and thousands more across Connecticut are without power in the past hour, Eversource reports.

The utility now reports 214 customers in Darien without power (3 percent of the total) and, statewide, 72,984 customers in the dark, or 6 percent (the number was 66,631 or 5 percent as of 7:20 a.m.).

Original article 7:34 a.m.:

A total of 204 Darien customers (3 percent of all customers in town) were still without power as of 7:20 a.m. after a storm with high winds rolled through town, according to Eversource. New Haven Line trains are delayed because of branches on wires.

And Darien customers are in line with a lot of others to get power back: Statewide, 66,631 customers throughout the state (5 percent) were without power as of the same time, according to the utility.

As of about 11:30 p.m., Wednesday, 657 Darien customers were without power, or 8 percent of total customers in town. As of 12:28 a.m., First Selectman Jayme Stevenson tweeted, there were still 464 customers without power.

Stamford, Norwalk  and Greenwich police have each tweeted that branches and in some cases trees came down on various streets, some of which are impassable. Darien police have issued no tweets or statements about the roads.

Metro-North announced in an email sent at 6:37 a.m.: “New Haven Line Customers traveling through the vicinity of Greenwich and Rye should anticipate delays of 10 to 15 minutes due to overhead wire damage in the area. Please listen for announcements at your station.” That announcement was repeated by email at 7:47 a.m.

The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch on Wednesday, which was in effect until 2 a.m., and a Wind Advisory in effect until 4 a.m.

Editor’s note: The sentence above about Stevenson’s 12:28 a.m. tweet was added at 8:02 a.m. The 7:47 a.m. Metro-North update was added at 8:04 a.m.

Update 7:54 a.m.: Which police departments tweeted about this and which didn’t

These tweets were sent out by neighboring police departments. In some cases, the tweets were sent out several hours ago or more and conditions have likely changed. Darien Police Department, along with police departments in Wilton (which doesn’t seem to have a Twitter account) and Fairfield (which does) also had no tweets on road conditions that Darienite.com could find. When hours (like “6h”) are noted in the line identifying the source, that notes how many hours before 7:30 a.m. Thursday the tweet was posted.