Update 9:46 p.m.
There will be no school in New Canaan on Thursday, town officials announced Wednesday night via townwide robo-call and on a social media site controlled by the municipality. School will start Tuesday, Sept. 6.
This message was posted moments ago on the New Canaan Office of Emergency Management Facebook page:
This is an August 31st 9:00 pm update from the Emergency Operations Center. We continue to make our roads safe. The damage to our electrical infrastructure was much more extensive than the initial assessment revealed. As a result, public schools will not open until Tuesday, September 6th. Power was restored to over 1000 homes today. As a reminder, please continue to report downed wires or debris blocking your driveway to the EOC at (203) 594-4100. We will provide further updates tomorrow.
Update 3:45 p.m.
Following is an update from the :
— The New Canaan Food Pantry will be open for normal operation on Thursday, Sept. 1 from 9-10:30 a.m. and 6:15-7:30 p.m.
— Vine Cottage has a limited supply of "Meals Ready to Eat" and water bottles available to residents during working hours 8:30-4:30.
— Hoses are available at the Fire Department and Vine Cottage to fill containers for cleaning and flushing toilets. Residents can fill clean containers for drinking as well. ###
Update 2:30 p.m.
Sgt. Carol Ogrinc of the said parents should advise students walking and biking to to stay on sidewalks and not to take shortcuts or cut through people's yards.
"There is still the possibility that there are wires that are unsafe on private property that members of the EOC may be unaware of," Ogrinc said.
Update 1:45 p.m.
The Wednesday night concert at will be held this evening as planned. The Fairfield Counts, big band sound, will perform at 7:30 p.m. As an added bonus, there's WiFi at Waveny park.
Update 1:25 p.m.
New Canaan Public Schools will open Thursday morning with a 90-minute delay. To see the full text of the
Update 12:45 p.m.
— Six-year-old Beagle, Dakota, was one of five dogs that have been picked up for roaming since Sunday, according to . All were the result of invisible fences not working because of power outages. The dogs have all been reunited with their owners.
Dakota, who was recently adopted from North Carolina, was reunited with his family Wednesday afternoon.
Kleinschmidt said they are not charging fees, and if your dog is lost, you can pick him or her up at police headquarters.
— Approximately 75 percent of New Canaan homes are still without power, according to Police Commissioner Jim Cole. Emergency Management officials have focused on getting "high priority targets" back online since power went out Sunday morning.
"I'm anxious to see more homes come online, and I'd really like to see that soon," Cole said.
Cole said the town was right " first," and said he expects to see progress today.
"Today's the proof of the pudding," he said. "If we get West School up that will free up a big crew.
Update: 12:15 p.m.
(Editor's Note: Following is an announcement from Mike Handler, Director of Emergency Management.)
Good morning, this is Mike Handler with an 11:30 a.m. update on August 31st from your Emergency Operations Center.
- All roads in town are now passable to emergency vehicles.
- Work continues to make safe the downed power lines.
- Four out of our five schools now have power.
If you have trees or wires down blocking your driveway completely we ask that you call our EOC immediately at 203-594-4100 or post this information on Facebook at “newcanaanoem.com
- Please do not approach downed power lines.
- Please do not leave candles unattended.
- The Health Department has inspected all food establishments in town and all are operational.
- The two are prepared to open once power is restored.
If you have a concern about your residential water or any other storm related needs please call the EOC. Thank you.
Update: 11:20 a.m.
— Power has been restored to all New Canaan Public Schools with the exception of .
— Selectman Rob Mallozzi told Patch there are currently six trucks here from CL&P working in town, and each truck has an independent tree crew working alongside.
"If you add our town public works crews, we have at least 16 assets in place dedicated to restoring power," Mallozzi said.
Update: Wednesday, Aug. 31, 10:15 a.m.
— On a three mile drive to town this Patch editor saw six different crews at work: power company, AT&T and Cablevision.
— has set up a farrm stand and is selling coffee, newspapers, fruits, vegetables, packaged foods and Wave Hill Bread. Alex Stewart set up a generator to power the register. Once they'll give the go-ahead for deliveries of perishable.
— Upon seeing the array of foods and the staff waiting to help out at Stewart's a customer (who wished not to be identified) said, "They're using their noggins."
— A tree fell on Frogtown near Weed St. this morning. The road is passable.
Update Tuesday, Aug. 30, 8:55 p.m.
The New Canaan Emergency Operations Center put out this update on Tuesday evening: “Six roads remain closed. Power has been restored to half of our high priority targets. Our critical fire and EMS communications are back on-line. We continue to focus on Upper Elm Street with the hopes of bringing and the back up as soon as possible. We still have over 100 downed power lines that are presumed to be charged—please continue to stay away from any downed lines. Thank you for your patience as we focus on our critical infrastructure which will allow us to restore residential power.”
Update 3:20 p.m.
The full length of Route 123 is now open to traffic.
has two generators for sale, the is open and has set up a small stand selling newspapers.
EOC will be offering hot meals and water — drinking and non-potable (for washing and cleaning) — at the high school from 4-6 p.m. Non-potable water is available at the .
Update: 2 p.m.
-- According to the MTA, regular service on the New Canaan branch line will begin with the 3:57 p.m. train from Stamford.
-- WiFi is working at Waveny House. The house is not open but Wi-Fi access
Original Story
(The following is a report from the New Canaan Director of Emergency Management Michael Handler.)
This is an August 30 11:30 a.m update from the Emergency Operations Center. We continue to update our Road Closure Map on our “newcanaanoem.com” Facebook page.
Ponus Ridge Road, Valley Road, Locust Ave., Weed St., Elm St., Marshall Ridge Road, Sunrise Ave., Springwater Lane, Adams Lane, Brookside Road, Hillcrest Road, Rockybrook Road, and Juniper Road are now open and passable but still considered NOT safe.
We currently have four teams dedicated to making roads passable and/or safe and two teams working on restoring power to the Town’s high priority targets. These efforts will continue until darkness. At that time we will have one, possibly two, crews working through the night. It is anticipated that the majority of making our roads safe will take today and perhaps the early part of tomorrow. At that time, our crews will enter the restoration phase.
We want to remind everyone that part of the restoration process can involve taking homes that currently have power down temporarily. but we are hopeful schools can open on Thursday. A final decision regarding Thursday will be announced by Wednesday at 1p.m. From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. today volunteers will be staffing a drinking water and heated meal distribution site at . In addition, non-potable water for use for sanitary needs will be available at the New Canaan High School and the . Please bring containers.
The will remain open until 10pm this evening and has electrical power and internet access. The remains open for showers until 10pm—please bring your own towel. Please call (203) 594-4100 for any information or concerns and reserve 911 for true emergencies.
Further updates will be provided later today.
