Power Crews Make Their Presence Known In Windsor Locks and East Windsor Friday

As power crews started making head way in the Windsor Locks and East Windsor Friday, town officials are cautioning residents to prepare for a cold Friday night and make precautions for when their electricity is restored.

Windsor Locks High School will remain an emergency shelter until power is restored and town hall will be available as a warming center and recharging center from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. As of 8:30 p.m. Friday, 48 percent of Windsor Locks was without power, according to CL&P’s outage map.

First Selectman Steven N. Wawruck Jr. said Friday afternoon that utility trucks were working to bring up the major power lines which should affect the most amount of people. The trucks would then start working on the side neighborhoods, he added.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal visited Friday afternoon and spoke with emergency workers as well as residents who there in the warming center and recharging room.

“They’re doing a great job and their tired,” he said.

Blumenthal said he was impressed by the volunteers, their spirit and the optimism of residents that their electricity would be back on soon.

“In reassured them that CL&P is saying all their power, or 99 percent, by Sunday,” Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal said the whole crisis has been very costly, such as the food towns have been supplying to people in emergency shelters.

“We’re going to fight for reimbursement from the federal government,” Blumenthal said.

Windsor Locks Fire Chief Gary Ruggiero said the department has had 325 calls since the storm hit on Saturday. The calls ranged from electrical lines down, cars burning, a structure fire, and high carbon monoxide levels.

Ruggiero said a resident in an apartment complex used a charcoal grill in a bedroom to keep warm and that caused carbon monoxide not only that apartment but the whole building.

The department has also seen people who bought generators connect them incorrectly causing  the electricity to backfeed their electrical systems and cause damage, he said.  Others have also failed to locate the generators far enough from their home so the fumes and carbon monoxide don’t come inside, he added.

Ruggeiro warned that people should treat all wires as if they are live. He also recommended that people turn off their circuit breakers so when their electricity comes back appliances they forgot to turn off such as electric stoves don’t cause fires.

In East Windsor, CL&P trucks that had been promised to begin work in Broad Brook on Thursday evening began on Friday morning, officials said.

On Thursday, First Selectwoman Denise Menard enlisted the help of State Rep. Christopher Davis to get CL&P officials to send crews to restore power. Menard said during the previous three days town officials were promised the crews would be there and they didn’t show up.

“It’s extremely frustrating because we’ve gotten the same story every day but we’ve seen no trucks,” Menard said Thursday.

Menard said Broad Brook is a priority because Mill Pond Village apartment complex, Park Place senior housing complex, two schools and are located there. Areas in Warehouse Point began receiving power on Wednesday.

On Friday morning, Menard and Davis both reported that crews began working at the Barber Hill substation at the South Windsor town line and began working north. Other crews worked from Enfield down and east, officials said.

 As of 8:30 p.m. Friday, 61 percent of East Windsor was without power according to the CL&P outage map.

After using town hall and the senior center as emergency shelters, town officials listed new places on Friday for residents to go.