A Year After Storm Isaias, Eversource Says This Is How It’s Improving Its Response for the Next One

Darien Has a Lower % of Customers Without Power Than Any Surrounding Town — Darien’s Storm Recovery: Continual Updates

Governor Asks State’s Regulators to Look Into Utilities’ Response to Storm Isaias

Weather

By DARIENITE.COM | August 5, 2021

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | August 8, 2020

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By DARIENITE.COM | August 5, 2020

Eversource, the electric utility covering nearly all of Connecticut, says its improving the way it prepares for and reacts to storms like the devastating Tropical Storm Isaias, which hit the state hard one year ago, on Aug. 4 and 5, 2020. Several days later, 130,000 Connecticut customers were still without power after wind, rain and falling branches and trees damaged electricity lines throughout the state. The utility was criticized for not getting service back. In an announcement, Eversource described a number of changes and improvements made to its storm response procedures over the past 12 months.

THE LATEST: Darien has a smaller proportion of customers still without power than any town in the area; Metro-North says trains may be delayed on Monday, so allow for extra travel time; First Selectman: Shut your fire alarms off if you’re home when they activate, so firefighters aren’t dispatched unnecessarily. 11:50 a.m., Monday — As of 11:36 a.m., 211 Darien customers are still without electricity (2.11% of town). As compared with:

Connecticut, statewide: 6.44% (82,456 customers)

Norwalk: 4.26% (1,351 customers)

New Canaan: 25.04% (2,127)

Wilton: 36.79% (2,771)

Westport: 28.23% (3,566)

Weston: 58.46% (2,266)

Stamford: 3.54% (2,172)

Greenwich: 8.51% (2,403)

Ridgefield: 35.88% (3,943)

Redding: 39.85% (1,526)
SUNDAY
7:20 p.m. — Metro-North, dealing with damage from Storm Isaias, issued this announcement late Sunday afternoon about train service on Monday:

On Monday, Aug. 10, Metro-North will operate regular weekday service between New Haven and Grand Central Terminal. Due to continued work on damaged infrastructure after Tropical Storm Isaias, delays are possible.

Eversource Downed Tree Storm recovery Isaias

« August 2022 »

Gov. Ned Lamont is asking the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to investigate what the governor called a “wholly inadequate” response to Tropical Storm Isaias. According to Eversource, which covers most of the state, as of 5:05 p.m., 47.71% of its customers were still without power, a total of 611,280 out of 1,281,259 Connecticut customers. Late Wednesday morning, Eversource issued an announcement about recovery efforts, noting the difficulties:

“’The impact from this storm, in terms of power outages, is greater than Superstorm Sandy. The fierce winds with this storm caused widespread power outages and historic damage, affecting customers in all of the 149 communities we serve in Connecticut,’ said Eversource Vice President of Electric Operations in Connecticut Michael Hayhurst.” (Full texts of both announcements are below.)
Governor’s Announcement
Here’s the full text of Lamont’s news release, emailed at 5:07 p.m.:

Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is requesting the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to conduct a thorough investigation of the state’s public utility companies, including Eversource and United Illuminating, amid widespread outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias that have left hundreds of thousands of customers without power.