CL&P Using Helicopters to Assess Widespread Damage

Connecticut Light & Power is sending out helicopters to assess the damage from Thursday's storm and estimating that full restoration for the entire state may take multiple days, officials said.

"Restoration will go through the weekend, as late as Sunday," CL&P spokesman Frank Poirot said Friday.

Thousands of people across the state lost power, including a high of 33 percent of CL&P customers in Southbury. Thursday's vicious storms, which ripped through the area, left behind a trail of damage on the roadway system that has made it difficult for emergency crews to assess the damage and even reach the hardest hit areas, officials said.

CL&P has responded by using a helicopter to survey the damage from the air, Poirot said.

"We're having difficulty doing it on the ground," he said of the assessment.

Meanwhile utility crews from Michigan and Ohio also were being asked to come to the state to augment the 155 line crews and 124 tree crews already working to restore service, Poirot said.

The priority for service restoration will start with areas that contain emergency facilities, such as hospitals, followed by main roads, such as Route 7 in Brookfield, which serves as an important backbone to the power system, Poirot said. That means that less used roads, such as hardest-hit Hanover and Dinglebrook roads, may have to wait for multiple days before they are cleared, officials said.

"It remains to be seen how it progresses," Poirot said.