Residents Charge Up At Starbucks

Residents were up early this morning searching for spare power outlets.

“Wow, there’s a lot of people here,” said Lee Holstein of Stonington as she walked into in Mystic.

Most of the Coogan Boulevard area had power Monday morning and there were lines outside of Starbucks, , and the as people without power searched for coffee, gas, and a place to charge up their electronic devices.

“I was going to bring my computer and plug-in, everyone else had the same idea too,” Holstein said.

Ellen Effman-Gilbert did, and was lucky enough to find a spare power outlet to charge up her iPad.

A teacher in the system Effman-Gilbert said her family was planning on grilling tonight for dinner, but she hoped they had power and the chance to shower before school starts.

Stonington Public Schools are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, August 31. A staff development day was cancelled for Monday, August 29, but there has been no word yet on whether school will be postponed. Several other towns have announced they plan to delay the start of school at least until Thursday, September 1.

The phone continued to ring all morning at Starbucks as people called to see if they were open, until an employee finally advised to “just let it ring,” so they could concentrate on getting drinks and food out to all the waiting people.

Ray Parker of Mystic lost power at about 8 a.m., on Sunday, but said he knew Starbucks was open because he saw a friend post on Facebook they were enjoying a coffee drink at there.

“I needed to check in with work,” Parker said.

Others were working at Starbucks some saying the planned to spend most of the day there.