Patience Threshold is Mixed During Wait for Power

What’s open and what’s not is still an ongoing problem for many people in the Simsbury, Avon and Farmington areas. Route 10 North from Southington through Simsbury was in total darkness Tuesday night.

Major strip malls are without power and stores that would otherwise be full of customers are empty. Knowing where to go for essentials — gasoline, groceries and internet can save you on time and aggravation. 

Walmart on the Farmington/Bristol border had many shoppers out Tuesday evening.

“I’m weathering the storm as well as can be expected,” said Mr. Politz, a Farmington resident who shopped there. Politz described himself as a ‘Farmington camper’ and said he knows what to do to survive without power.

“I’m using melting snow for waste purposes and firewood is great for heat,” said Politz. “I guess CL&P is doing the best they can, but it does seem that it’s an ‘oh well’ attitude in getting service restored.”

People have mixed reactions to the inconvenience they’re experiencing. A couple who rushed by into Walmart stopped to make a statement but didn’t want to be identified, “Malloy doesn’t know what he’s doing!”

“I’m stopping at Walmart on my way back to Tolland,” said Irene Zajac. “It seems things are slowly coming back and in the meantime, I’m lucky my employer Nerac of Tolland is letting employees use company showers and wifi,” said Zajac.

A group of teens had more acerbic remarks. “CL&P should pick up the pace. I’m losing income because my company has no power and I can’t go to work,” said Jenna Wald.

“I just grin and bear it,” said Sherry Hill of Bristol. “We live in New England and you have to expect this. “I didn’t know Walmart was open and I’m happy to be able to buy my son something to keep him busy.” 

Further north at Farmington’s Stop&Shop an employee expressed unhappiness over CL&P response time. “I’m just now seeing a utility truck for the first time since Saturday,” said Scott Gelinas of Farmington. “I still have a tree down on my block, and the situation is getting old. If the power isn’t restored by tomorrow I’ll have to look to local amenities, like the YMCA.”

Many traffic lights along Route 10 north didn’t have stop signs and drivers proceeded cautiously as the evening grew dark.

Citgo and Sunoco on Rte 44 were both open and brightly lit. Apricot’s Restaurant and Pub on Farmington Avenue and Max a Mia on Main St. in Farmington was crowded whereas Joey Garlic's in the same town was closed. Toshi’s in Avon’s Riverdale Farms shopping center was open as was Tower View Pizza in the same area.

The CL&P Service Center in Simsbury was lit and there appeared to be a steady stream of trucks coming and going.  For CL&P outage map click this link.