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First Selectman Explains Why It Sometimes Takes a While to Get Power Back After a Storm

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There are a number of reasons why it may take a while for your home to get power back after a storm, including whether your home can be restored with a lot of other homes all at once, how fast the wind is blowing after a storm, and even whether or not you have a special need, according to First Selectman Jayme Stevenson. At Monday’s Board of Selectman meeting, Stevenson took several minutes to explain how first responders, Department of Public Works crews and utility crews approach the cleanup after a storm and the restoration of power to local customers. Here’s how Stevenson described it, in her own words (without quotes):

I just want to remind everybody, as we are on the eve of, yes, another March snowstorm — hopefully it won’t be as bad as the last one — [that] a little movement in the storm here or there can make a big difference. Generally, people in town have been incredibly patient with regard to getting their power restored, and I just wanted to remind people of the [power restoration] process — and this storm was an excellent example of the damage that heavy snow and high winds can do throughout town, bringing down branches, trees, snapping utility poles, damaging transformers. ‘Make Safe’ Period
The very first part of the response effort on the part of our emergency operations team, in collaboration with Eversource, is to go out and take care of the emergency situations.