More Than 2,300 Southbury Homes Still Without Power

SOUTHBURY, CT — More than 2,300 Southbury homes or 23 percent of the town is still powerless as of Friday, according to town officials.

Town officials said Friday that they are "waiting for more Eversource crews to arrive in town."

Jeff Manville, Southbury First Selectman, wrote a letter to the town residents.

Here it is:

I feel it is critical to update you on the status of Southbury after Tropical Storm Isaias and address the Town's response with cleanup efforts.

At this time, 30% of Southbury is without power. At our peak, 58% of our homes were without power after the storm. Since that time, our Public Works crews have been working to address issues of blocked roads from trees that do not involve power lines.

Residents need to know that our Town Public Works crews are not allowed to remove any trees or branches that touch wires. Regulations require that a power company crew, in our case Eversource, be present before any work is done on trees touching wires. This is done for safety reasons. Protocol is that Town crews are to assume that all wires are live and an Eversource crew needs to handle the situation.

Eversource did send one "make safe" crew to town last night for 7 hours. They left at 3am and have not returned. As a result, the Town is at the mercy of Eversouce and the availability of their work teams. Frankly, Eversouce doesn't have enough crews to go around. Additionally, they failed to line up a sufficient number of crews from other states to handle this level of work.

In my opinion, Eversource grossly underestimated the impact of Isaias. After it hit, they had only a quarter or a third of the number of teams generally needed for a storm of this magnitude.
Be assured that our Public Works team is working as hard as possible under the constraints that exist. They are in constant contact with Eversource and are available whenever Eversource is in Town. They are as equally frustrated as you are.

Important details for town residents:

Showers will be available at the Pomperaug High School starting this afternoon at these days/hours:

• Friday: 4pm-8pm
• Saturday: 8am-8pm
• Sunday: 10am-2pm

Reservations are required. Follow the link to sign up: https://forms.gle/k6v5isAs9ESk37kG7.

All patrons should wear masks when entering or exiting the building.

PHS is located at 234 Judd Rd in Southbury.

Water stations and charging stations at Town Hall and Senior Center/P&R building remain open.

Outside Charging Stations (look for the sign):

• Town Hall - accessed from the upper parking lot
• Senior Center/Parks and Recreation building - next to P&R entrance
• Library - on the terrace

Potable water (look for the sign):

• Town Hall - accessed from the lower parking lot
• Senior Center - on the back of the building
• Bring your own containers