Hurricane Sandy Was Gentle on Windsor Locks and East Windsor

Not that they will complain, but emergency management officials in both Windsor Locks and East Windsor say Sandy was gentle on their towns.

There were some fallen trees and power wires but no injuries, and no need for either town to open emergency shelters for residents.

“We fared well,” Vic Puia, emergency management director for Windsor Locks, said.

One serious incident happened Monday night when a Windsor Locks police officer went to check on calls of flickering lights and possible wires down. As he drove by a primary power wire landed on his cruiser, Police Chief Eric Osanitsch said.

 A CL&P crew was stationed in Windsor Locks and was able to get to the scene quickly. It took about 30 minutes for the crew to de-energize the line and remove it from the police car, Osanitsch said. There were no injuries.

“Officers are trained to stay in the car, because the car is grounded,” Osanitsch said. “Our officer remained calm in the car.”

Osanitsch said the night was relatively uneventful otherwise. The department had anticipated on getting more calls than it did, he added.

Puia said said he didn’t have to deploy the Community Emergency Response Team, who were on standby during the storm. Puia closed the emergency management office early Tuesday afternoon. All of the supplies, such as cots and food were put back in storage, he said.

Windsor Locks Public School officials announced early Tuesday that classes will resume on Wednesday.

In East Windsor, First Selectwoman Denise Menard said while members of the emergency management department put in a long night, they were never needed to implement any measures.

“Our operations center worked fabulously,” Menard said.

The biggest event was more than 1,700 CL&P customers in East Windsor losing power, including the high school and the Broad Brook Fire Department station. The majority of the customers were on South Main Street, from Wyndwood Apartments southward, they’re power was restored by Tuesday morning, Menard said.

As of 4 p.m. 664 customers remained without power in East Windsor and four customers in Windsor Locks.

There were some downed wires, tree branches in the roads but not a lot of trees fell in the roads, preventing people from getting through, Menard said. One road, East Road, was closed because of a tree branch that landed on wires, Public Works Leonard Norton said.

Luckily, there was no need to open emergency shelters, one, East Windsor High School, was not available because of the power outage, Menard said. The emergency management office will remain open until 5 p.m. today, Menard said.

Town hall was partially open on Tuesday because of the governor’s mandate Monday to stay off of highways and roads during the storm, Menard said. Town hall employees could come in if they felt safe enough to do it or they could do work from home, she said.

Menard said town hall will be fully open on Wednesday. Schools will also resume classes on Wednesday, she added.