'We got hammered': Storm leaves path of devastation through E. Haven, Branford, No. Haven

Aug. 29--The brand new, nearly complete synthetic turf field at East Haven High School -- a $1.2 million job -- was destroyed by Thursday's storm just three or four days before the contractor was supposed to turn it over to the school.

And thousands of people -- including more than 96 percent of the customers in Branford -- remained without power Friday morning as Gov. Ned Lamont prepared to tour damage in North Haven and Branford, two of the hardest-hit communities from Thursday's storm.

"Though not as widespread, the damage caused by yesterday's storms is even more severe in some locations than Tropical Storm Isaias, particularly in the hardest-hit communities in western and southern Connecticut," Eversource President of Regional Electric Operations Craig Hallstrom said in an email just before noon Friday.

"Our dedicated crews are working urgently to continue clearing roads and repair damage, and we estimate that restoration for all towns other than Branford will be substantially complete by midnight," Hallstrom said. "We know the timing couldn't have been worse for our customers affected by these storms, and we'll continue working the extreme sense of urgency that they deserve until all of our customers have power again."

In a visit to Branford, Lamont said he, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove and state legislators had what in Washington, D.C., might be called a "frank and honest" discussion with Eversource officials, including Hallstrom, inside Branford Town Hall

This time around, Branford had damage that was "worse than any other town in the state," Lamont said at a press conference on the steps of Town Hall. About 9,000 customers were still without power as he spoke at midday "and if you're one of the 9,000, it's completely unacceptable," he said.

Eversource officials had assured state and local officials, however, that 99 percent of Branford customers would have their power back by the end of the day.

"Unlike last time, I don't think this is necessarily a manpower issue," Lamont said.

Blumenthal offered thanks "to the folks who are out there doing the actual work," and said, "I know that they've had a long night."

He said he was "going to be watching how well Eversource performs here in Branford over the next 24 hours. ...The people of Branford -- and Connecticut -- deserve better, and they deserve refunds. ... I am going to be asking, and demanding, that Eversource provide refunds."

Ultimately, "what we may need is a smaller, more responsive utility than Eversource," Blumenthal said.

Hallstrom said, "We're making adjustments where we can," and in response to a question about dramatically rising utility bills, said "the increase in the bills are primarily driven by usage."

Officials still had not confirmed whether the extensive damage Thursday was caused by tornadoes, a series of microbursts or a "macroburst," which is a straight-line high-wind event that lasts for more than 2.5 miles. But it didn't really seem to matter: the damage was done.

Whatever it was -- and the National Weather Service was in the area investigating -- there appeared to have been a swath of damage that swept from the Montowese section of North Haven through Foxon and the north end of East Haven and then across Branford, both in the north end and down by the shore.

At the height of the storm's impact, 48 percent of North Haven was without power. As of 7 p.m. Friday, United Illuminating was reporting 3,064 customers without power in town, about 26.15 percent of the utility's customers there.

First Selectman Michael Freda declared a state of emergency at 9 p.m. Thursday, and Friday many roads still were impassable or had wires down.

As many as 55 roads were closed due to fallen trees and wires, according to the North Haven Fire Department, and many neighborhoods were inaccessible for first responders. The town has requested assistance from the Connecticut National Guard to clear debris.

The department said residential traffic continued to interfere with emergency responders and clearing efforts and asked residents to stay away from impacted neighborhoods, unless absolutely necessary.

Bethany and Hamden also were hard hit.

In Branford, Fire Chief Tom Mahoney said, "The damage itself is significantly worse than the recent tropical storm. That's the bad news. The good news is that because not as many communities were hit ... Eversource was more ready and we have a lot more support."

Tree contractors, Eversource and the Connecticut National Guard were working with town public works employees to open roads, Mahoney said. He said there had been more than 60 separate reported incidents of trees across roads, "and probably more than that."

"Indian Neck got hit pretty hard" and there was a "central swath" that swept south from Brushy Plain Road, said Mahoney, who was in Virginia helping his son move when the storm hit but was still involved in the reponse. There were a number of fallen trees along Route 146, he said.

"It's pretty widespread throughout the town," Mahoney said. "We're digging out and we're trying to get moving. Cellular service has been affected. Internet has been affected."

Across the border in East Haven, where the Connecticut National Guard also has been lent to the cause, "We got hammered," said Mayor Joe Carfora.

Most of the damage was "just in the northern part of the town," Carfora said. "We've got telephone poles down, we've got wires all over the place, we've got trees and telephone poles that just got snapped in half like sticks. ... There are lots of people without power."

As of 7 p.m. Friday, United Illuminating was reporting 52 customers without power in town, about 0.39 percent of the utility's customers there.

By Friday morning, "95 percent of the roads are passable," Carfora said.

In addition to all the trees down and other damage, the brand new, $1 million-plus synthetic turf field at East Haven High School -- which was within three or four days of being complete and turned over to the town -- was destroyed, Carfora said.

"But we're resilient," he said. "We will rebuild."

He said he didn't yet know whether insurance would cover the damage.

"That breaks my heart. I went up there last night," Carfora said. "They were like three or four days from handing it back over to the town and it got totally destroyed. ... All of the turf is just rolled up like ribbons, and all of the bleachers are destroyed."

The field project "is a little bit over a million dollars," Carfora said. "I was there the night before with a bunch of school officials. ... It was beautiful. It was gorgeous."

Sebastien Veilleux, vice president and director of sales & business development for Hera Sports Services LLC, which installed the turf, said the field is not salvageable and will have to be completely redone.

"It's going to be all new," Veilleux said. "We need to remove the turf" and start over. Work on the new running track around the field was to have begun next Thursday, he said.

Insurance adjusters will look at the field within the next few days, Veilleux said.

Carfora said he issued an order declaring an emergency in town at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

"The National Guard is going to help us open up the roads" and "the Connecticut Urban Search and Rescue" team was in town working Thursday night, Carfora said.

Throughout the storm and its aftermath so far, "Our own police and fire departments did a wonderful job, and I can't say enough about our public works department," which was back at work Friday morning after taking just about three hours off to get some sleep, he said.

Cosgrove said that "pretty much every area of town" suffered damage from Thursday's storm. By midday the town was down from 99 percent of Eversource customers without electricity to 55 percent, and by 7:14 p.m. Eversource was reporting 5,956 customers without power in town, or 35.90 percent.

"So restoration is occurring," he said.

State reps. Robin Comey, D-Branford, and Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, and Major Gen. Francis J. Evon Jr., adjutant general of the Connecticut National Guard, joined them to address the media in front of Branford Town Hall.

In a subsequent visit to a heavily-damaged stretch of Damascus Road in Branford -- with trees on roadways and on some residents' roofs, Lamont and Eversource Executive Vice President Joseph Nolan came face-to-face with chainsaw-wielding grandmother Betty Perrone, who had just come from doing some work in her backyard, where several trees had fallen.

Perrone shut off the chainsaw by time they approached.

"Oh, my, I was surprised," said Perrone later. She said she had been working in her backyard with her grandson, Reese Perrone.

Lucky for Perrone and her family, her son-in-law Angelo DiRienzo has a generator, so they had power.

Thursday night, "everybody was here, sitting out on our porch -- and through the trees you could see the fire!"

That fire was from a tangle of power lines that had come down and burned up a swath of the front lawn of one of her across-the-street neighbors.

"Yeah, we've got some damage," said Wayde Erickson, Perrone's next-door neighbor, who lives across from where the fire was -- and ended up with a tree on top of his garage and holes in the roof both in the garage and the other end of his house, where a large branch struck the roof on its way down.

In addition, "my car was out front and my front fender was smashed," said Erickson, who also owns a generator that at least allowed him to keep his refrigerator and freezer cold.

Erickson said he was quite surprised by the speed and ferocity of Thursday's storm.

"We were downstairs in the basement with the dogs and we heard a loud noise and then a 'bang,'" he said.

Later in the afternoon, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Blumenthal joined Carfora, state Rep. Joe Zullo, R-East Haven, and others for a tour of some of the damage in and around the Foxon section, including both neighborhoods full of downed trees north of Route 80 and the destroyed Frank "Coach" Crisafi Field at East Haven High School.

Bysiewicz, who arrived early and began the tour with just her staff, said she saw neighborhoods "with a lot of properties, a lot of telephone poles and a lot of trees" damaged, including "two houses that were uninhabitable."

Joining them for the East Haven tour was Bill Goodman, a surveyor for the National Weather Service, who was among several NWS officials trying to determine whether the storm resulted in either tornadoes or what he called a "macroburst."

The terminology depends on the direction of the winds, with tornadoes spawning twisting winds and microbursts and macrobursts blowing more in a straight line, he said.

A mile or so north, at Cortina and Jardin drives, Alexis Perinetti and her family were shocked both at the damage that occurred Thursday evening and by the sudden appearance of the mayor, lieutenant governor and senator in front of their house.

Both were things Perinetti said she had never seen in her 62 years in the neighborhood.

Perinetti, joined by her husband, Paul, and family and neighbors, said they were lucky to have no major damage to their home but "we had a lot of backyard damage," including "trees and roof damage."

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