CL&P, UI Crews Continue to Restore Power to Fairfield County [Updated]

[Editor's Note: For information about how your specific town is preparing for and handling Hurricane Sandy, click on one of the following links: Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, Darien, Norwalk, Wilton, Westport, Weston-Redding-Easton, Fairfield]

Update, 6:15 p.m. Nov. 4

Here's a snapshot of outages in our lower Fairfield County towns now. The figure represents the percentage of homes without power, as per that town's main utility, Connecticut Light and Power or United Illuminating (for Easton and Fairfield). For a look at how quickly power was restored over time, scroll down to prior updates.

 

Town Nov. 3, 9 p.m. 10 a.m. 6 p.m. Darien 29 29 26 Easton 35 31 28 Fairfield 25 23 16 Greenwich 33 31 26 New Canaan 55 50 38 Norwalk 25 14 11 Redding 35 23 19 Stamford 10 11 9 Weston 57 55 57 Westport 44 32 22 Wilton 50 46 37

 

Update, 9:15 p.m. Nov. 3

Here's a snapshot of outages in our lower Fairfield County towns now. The figure represents the percentage of homes without power, as per that town's main utility, Connecticut Light and Power or United Illuminating (for Easton and Fairfield). For a look at how quickly power was restored over time, scroll down to prior updates.

 

Town Nov. 3, 8 a.m.
11:30 a.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 9 p.m. Darien 45 45 33 33 29 Easton 50 49 46 42 35 Fairfield 37 36 33 28 25 Greenwich 45 44 40 39 33 New Canaan 62 56 56 56 55 Norwalk 28 28 27 27 25 Redding 55 47 55 41 35 Stamford 15 15 13 11 10 Weston 59 62 63 58 57 Westport 55 48 43 42 44 Wilton 67 63 62 60 50

Update, 8:30 p.m. Nov. 2

Metro-North Railroad says the New Haven line is back to running close to schedule between New Haven and Grand Central.

Here's a snapshot that shows the percentage of CL&P and UI homes in our Fairfield County towns that remain without power. The first column with numbers shows the percentage at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 1, the second 2:30 p.m. It should be noted that during restoration, the utilities will power down large patches of a town or city so that line crews can do their work safely. That sometimes causes a jump in the reported figures though the goal is to restore all power more quickly:

Town Nov. 1, 9:30 a.m.
2:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2, 9 a.m. 2 p.m. 8:30 p.m. Darien 57 58 50 49 53 49 Easton 82 84 75 60 61 50 Fairfield 56 53 51 43 41 40 Greenwich 60 59 56 51 51 47 New Canaan 68 68 68 68 68 61 Norwalk 42 44 44 39 45 34 Redding 76 79 77 50 58 55 Stamford 27 25 22 20 19 16 Weston 81 91 84 74 76 59 Westport 77 72 64 55 61 60 Wilton 79 78 73 67 74 67

UPDATE 10 a.m.

The following is a press release from the Office of Governor Malloy:

Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced today that commuter rail service between Stamford and New York’s Grand Central Terminal will resume Thursday morning, following just three days of suspended service as a result of the damage and havoc caused by Hurricane Sandy. The Governor has also waived all rail fares for Thursday and Friday's Metro-North rail service making rides into Grand Central free for the next two days.

The Governor cautioned commuters, however, that this limited service represents roughly half of normal weekday service and to plan accordingly and to work from home if at all possible. This limited service applies only to trains that originate in Stamford; not, for example, a train that normally originates in New Haven and stops in Stamford, and then proceeds to Grand Central.

“Returning to normal service between Stamford and New York so quickly is a testament to the incredible, around-the-clock work by hundreds of dedicated Metro-North workers and I want to personally thank them,” said Governor Malloy. “At the same time, I want to thank our commuters, who rely on this service on a daily basis, for their patience and understanding. In the wake of the devastation by this storm, this is a significant accomplishment."

Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner James P. Redeker applauded Governor Malloy's move to waive rail fares for the next two days: "Eliminating the charge for commuters is the right thing to do for the limited service that is available and for those commuters that have been inconvenienced by the lack of available rail service into New York.  At the same time, we'd rather make this limited service more attractive for the next two days to help alleviate or minimize motor vehicle traffic entering the city." New York has also initiated a similar waiver of rail fares for Metro-North customers bound for the Stamford Transportation Center.

The Stamford-New York service represents some 52 percent of the daily New Haven Line Service. Metro-North and the Connecticut Department of Transportation are also evaluating some interim express bus options for the east end of the line and the return the entire system – from New Haven to Grand Central – to full service as quickly as possible.

Shore Line East commuter rail service, between New Haven and New London, will also resume Thursday morning. In addition, Amtrak will begin operating some limited service between New Haven and Springfield, and between Boston and Washington DC.

Update 9:30 a.m., Nov. 1

The MTA says close to regularly scheduled service is being provided on the New Haven Line between Stamford and Grand Central Terminal.

CL&P said Thursday morning that the "vast majority" of its customers was "Monday or Tuesday.

"This is an estimate, it is not a guarantee," said William Quinlan, a senior vice president for the utility, adding that pockets of customers in particularly difficult areas would probably go beyond that date.

Here's a snapshot of where Fairfield County towns stand Thursday morning. All are CL&P towns except Easton and Fairfield (United Illuminating):

Town No. Outages Percent of town Darien 4,493 57 Easton 2,358 82 Fairfield 12,183 56 Greenwich 16,855 60 New Canaan 5,766 68 Norwalk 12,735 42 Redding 2,986 76 Stamford 15,049 27 Weston 3,092 81 Westport 9,561 77 Wilton 5,834 79

Oct. 31

Below is chart with the number of CL&P and United Illuminating customers currently without power. It will be updated at the top of each hour:

 

Tues.

 

Wed.    

Town

5 a.m.

7 a.m.

9 a.m. 11 a.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 8 a.m. 4 p.m. 7 p.m.

Darien

7,143

7,816

7,235 6,630 6,881 6,896 6,690 6,800 4,734

Easton

2,894

2,897

2,919 2,943 1,557 1,758 2,102 2,242 2,258

Fairfield

21,371

21,377

21,421 21,467 16,588 15,610 15,344 14,428 13,119

Greenwich

22,173

22,788

23,813 24,217 23,573 21,750 18,911 17,716 17,635

New Canaan

5,652

8,375

5,983 6,018 6,018 5,927 5,941 5,965 6,007

Norwalk

18,554

29,661

18,178 18,285 29,661 15,761 13,763 14,672 13,920

Redding

3,841

3,837

3,849 3,854 3,860 2,797 2,993 2,983 3,062

Stamford

29,912

34,277

35,006 35,351 34,804 35,989 26,441 23,096 20,655

Weston

3,791

3,808

3,808 3,808 3,808 3,808 3,571 3,567 3,568

Westport

10,257

10,287

10,523 10,615 12,351 10,587 10,606 10,551 9,966

Wilton

5,881

5,871

5,905 5,881 6,811 6,058 6,095 6,064 6,076

 

Updated 5:28 p.m.:

Here are excerpts from the  Connecticut Department of Transportation's announcement about restored New Haven Line service between Stamford and Grand Central Terminal:

"Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced today that commuter rail service between Stamford and New York’s Grand Central Terminal will resume Thursday morning [...]

"The Stamford-New York service represents some 52 percent of the daily New Haven Line Service. Metro-North and the Connecticut Department of Transportation are also evaluating some interim express bus options for the east end of the line and the return the entire system – from New Haven to Grand Central – to full service as quickly as possible. [...]

"In addition, Amtrak will begin operating some limited service between New Haven and Springfield, and between Boston and Washington DC."

Updated, 5:21 p.m.:

Commuter service between Stamford and Grand Central Terminal is scheduled to restart with the 4:43 a.m. train Thursday, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation announced the restoration of service and Gov. Dannel Malloy's office has tweeted about the restoration.

"This doesn't include any trains originating in New Haven," said Marjorie Anders, a spokeswoman for the MTA. Any train originating in Stamford, however, will be running starting with the 4:43 a.m. train, she said. The restored service will be operating on the New Haven Line's regular schedule.

Updated, Oct. 31 8:38 a.m.

Metro-North and Long Island Railroad service remains suspended on Tuesday. The MTA released the following statement:

"It is still too early to say how long it will take to restore the system to full service. This is will be an exhaustive, time-consuming process with one goal: to restore safe and efficient service to 8.5 million daily MTA customers. It must be noted, however, that this process could have taken much longer had we not taken the pre-emptive measure of suspending all service to safeguard our equipment and prepare facilities to the best of our ability."    

 

Updated, Oct. 30 11:16 a.m.

Metro-North service remains suspended, according to the MTA.

"Metro-North is assessing damage to our right-of-way and other critical infrastructure. Trees are down and there are signal and power outages throughout the territory, as well as damage from flooding. Our goal is to restore as much service as possible when it is safe to do so."

Updated, Oct. 30 8:09 a.m.

Gov. Malloy has lifted the travel ban on state highways effective immediately, according to a statement released by his office.

“Use your heads when it comes to driving. If a road appears impassable because of water, downed wires, fallen trees or other debris, do not attempt to drive through it,” Malloy said.

The statement said Malloy will have additional updated information at his 8:30 a.m. news briefing from the State Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday morning.

Updated, Oct. 30 7:47 a.m.

A Mansfield woman was killed by a falling tree and an Easton firefighter died when a tree fell on his truck as Hurricane Sandy ravaged Connecticut's shoreline Monday night and left more than 600,000 customers in the dark.

Now a post-tropical cyclone, Sandy was moving west at 15 mph across southern Pennyslvania at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. Its sustained maximum winds had diminished to 65 mph, the National Weather Service reported.

The deadly storm is expected to weaken over the next 48 hours as Connecticut begins to deal with extensive shoreline flooding and widespread outages.

In Norwalk, two "high water rescue teams" were dispatched to calls of people needing to be evacuated from flooded residences. Fires were a problem elsewhere on the shoreline because flooding prevented firefighters from responding. At least three homes were lost in Old Greenwich.

Early Tuesday, according to the Hartford Courant, the Connecticut National Guard was ready to help evacuate residents, particularly from the state's southwestern corner.

In central Connecticut, power outages and wind damage were less severe, but most schools across the state remained closed on Tuesday. Temperatures were expected to fall into the 50s for highs and the 30s for lows over the next five days as many residents wait for their power to be restored.

Updated, Oct 30 5:10 a.m.

According to Connecticut Light & Power, 476,603 customers in the state are without power. According to United Illuminating, 149,645 are without power.

Updated, Oct 29 11:12 p.m.

According to Connecticut Light & Power, 493,097 customers in the state are without power. According to United Illuminating, 129,204 are without power. The figures represent highs for the day as Hurricane Sandy's impact is felt—especially in shoreline towns.

Updated, Oct 29 6:19 p.m.

Over 184,000 Connecticut Light & Power customers are currently without power in the state, a number that may very well rise as Hurricane Sandy continues to hammer the region overnight.

Roughly every town in the state is seeing outages in some capacity, with the bulk of the power issues being seen in several coastal communities ranging from Branford to Stonington.

CL&P Spokesman Mitch Gross said that, despite the high winds, there are crews out working on emergency restoration efforts right now.

“We’re at work handling as many issues as we can, while it’s still safe,” Gross said.

Federal regulations require that utility workers not be in the air working on power lines when wind speeds hit 40 mph. But Gross said that, since winds haven’t hit that threshold as of yet, there still are trucks in the CL&P system out on the road.

Some workers have been pulled off the lines in certain areas of the state, such as parts of Litchfield County, due to higher winds, Gross said.

In a message sent out to CL&P customers, the company reinforced that, if the power does go out, it may not return for an extended period of time.

If you experience an outage, please call 800-286-2000 or go to www.cl-p.com (via PC or mobile device) to report it.

“It's important that you report an outage even if you think your neighbors may have already reported it,” the message read. “The more information we have, the better we are able to improve our assessment of damage and make repairs.”

Updated, Oct 29 4:51 p.m.

Wells Fargo Bank has decided to waive or credit certain fees beginning Monday, Oct. 29 through Nov. 1. The timeframe will be re-assessed later in the week to determine if it needs to be extended.  

Late fees on credit cards, consumer and certain small business loans, including home-equity, auto and student loans, will be waived, as well as the fee it normally charges its customers for using another bank’s ATMs when their customers use another bank’s ATM in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Updated, Oct 29 3:15 p.m.

AmeriCares has emergency response teams on stand-by and a mobile clinic ready to be deployed as Hurricane Sandy passes through, according to statement released by the organization.

The mobile clinic can serve as a temporary exam room and restore access to care should the storm knock out power to important health clinics in the region. The global health and disaster relief organization is also prepared to deliver medicines, first aid kits, bottled water, cleaning products, flashlights and shelter supplies to the hardest hit communities up and down the East Coast.

“With long-term power outages and major flooding expected from North Carolina to Massachusetts, we are ready to deliver medical aid and shelter supplies all across the East Coast,” Garrett Ingoglia, vice president of emergency response, AmeriCares, said. “We’ve been in contact with more than 130 health clinics and partner organizations with offers of assistance and will help in any way we can.”

Updated, Oct. 29 2:11 p.m.

All Bowtie Cinemas theaters in Connecticut are closed due to Hurricane Sandy.

Updated, Oct. 29 9:49 a.m.

Gov. Malloy today ordered road closures for all state highways. The closures will be implemented in two phases.  At 11:00 A.M., trucks will be prohibited from operating on limited access highways. At 1:00 P.M., state highways will be closed to all non-emergency related vehicles.

“Residents need to take this storm very seriously. Beginning in the next several hours, wind gusts will begin to exceed 50 m.p.h., making traveling along our roads – especially wooded areas like the Merritt Parkway – very dangerous.  We’re doing this in two phases, so that trucks will first be prohibited and then all non-emergency vehicles.  If you’re in a non-evacuation area, stay home.”

Updated, Oct. 29 8:28 a.m.

All Metro-North services, along with public transportation in New York City, remain suspended according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

According to the MTA website:

The MTA Hurricane Plan calls for suspending service hours before the approach of winds of 39 mph and higher. That gives MTA crews time to prepare rail and subway cars, buses, tunnels, yards and buildings for the storm, then return to safety. Winds of 39 mph and higher are predicted to reach the metropolitan region during the predawn hours Monday.

Updated, 4:14 p.m.

Amtrak will suspend all Northeast Corrider Services on Monday, including Acela Express, Northeast Regional, Keystone and Shuttle, according to Fox43.com. Empire Service, Adirondack, Vermonter, Ethan Allen and Pennsylvanian train services are also suspended, along with overnight services to and from the East Coast.

Over 5,000 flights have also been canceled in anticipation of Sandy, according to CBSNews.com, with the East Coast experiencing the most disruptions.

Connecticut will close all state parks and beaches on Monday.

In New York City, MTA will suspend all bus and subway services begininng at 7 p.m. for subways, and 9:00 p.m. for buses in anticipation of the high winds and heavy rains driven by Hurricane Sandy.

Original Story

The following statement was released by the MTA:

Metro-North's storm preparation has begun and regular train service will continue through Sunday, October 28.

Metro-North will suspend all train service beginning at 7 PM on Sunday, October 28  due to the expected severity of Hurricane Sandy and its impact on our service territory.
 
Shutting down the system allows Metro-North to secure and protect its equipment and infrastructure from the hurricane force winds and flooding expected to hit the territory on Monday, October 29.

The shutdown will be as orderly as possible and early enough so that all trains enroute will be able to complete their runs.

Grand Central Terminal and all outlying Metro-North station buildings will be closed for the duration of the service suspension. All Connecting Service will also be suspended.

For the safety of our customers, those needing to travel are encouraged to do so as soon as possible and not wait until the last minute.

Customers can also contact the Metro-North Customer Information Center by calling 511, the New York State Travel Information Line, and say: Metro-North Railroad.  If you are deaf or hard of hearing, use your preferred relay service provider for the free 711 relay to reach Metro-North at 511. For customers outside New York State, call toll free 877-690-5114.

The following is a list of the last trains that will operate on Sunday before the system-wide suspension: 
 
New Haven Line
-7:07 PM train from Grand Central to New Haven arriving at 8:59 PM
-7:10 PM train from Grand Central to Stamford arriving at 8:17 PM
-6:53 PM train from New Haven to Grand Central arriving at 8:44 PM
-7:03 PM train from Stamford to Grand Central arriving at 8:09 PM
 
New Canaan and Waterbury Branch customers: all branch line train service will end with the last train operating prior to the 7 PM suspension.

Substitute bus service is currently being provided on the Danbury Branch until further notice due to Hurricane preparations.

The last Amtrak trains to operate on the New Haven Line will be 7:05 PM Acela out of Penn Station, NY and the 7:18 PM southbound out of New Haven.