Stormy reviews: Town officials irked at pace of repairs after near-tornado

First Selectman Gordon Joseloff, displeased with the pace of Connecticut Light &Power's repairs to widespread power outages caused in Westport by severe thunderstorms last Wednesday, hopes the power company's disaster response to future incidents improves.

That, however, was the promise CL&P made the last time a storm emergency was declared in March after a Nor'easter ripped through the area. The utility was also criticized for a slow response in the wake of that storm.

Joseloff told the Westport News Friday that he got an apology from the "operations manager for the area that the response for Westport (last week) was not what it should have been."

Part of the reason is that fewer repair crews are on standby in these tough economic times, the first selectman said. In addition, CL&P did not have a dedicated crew in town that worked side-by-side with local public works officials as it has in the past. Town officials often didn't know the roads or streets where CL&P repair crews were working.

But the town has no authority over CL&P, and local officials don't plan to file any complaints with the state, so quite simply, "we will continue to talk with them," Joseloff said. He added that public pressure for improved response may help bring about change as well.

"Maybe they can look at new ways of handling these incidents," Joseloff said.

The storms last week didn't unleash a tornado -- as early reports had indicated -- but Mother Nature did quite a number on Westport.

The pounding storms left downed trees and power lines across town. At the height of the fury, approximately 4,220 Connecticut Light & Power customers in Westport were without power. And between 70 to 80 roads were closed because of hazards caused by live lines on the ground or fallen trees.

By Friday evening, however, nearly all power had restored.

Joseloff and Assistant Fire Chief Jonathan Gottfried last week both expressed disappointment over CL&P's response to the storm emergency, saying it was not as efficient as they would have liked.

"Whenever there's a storm of this magnitude, we hear those comments from town officials," CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross said.

Gottfried said that CL&P had deployed only one crew in Westport -- a crew typically has two workers -- from the start of the storm Wednesday till 5-6 a.m. Thursday.

Gross, however, disagreed. "Seventeen crews worked in Westport on Thursday and we have 11 crews there today (Friday)," he said. "We move in with resources as fast as we can get them in there, and the crews stay on the job as long as it takes."

Joseloff said central Westport was the hardest-hit section of town, including Evergreen Avenue, Washington Avenue and Evergreen Parkway.

"I was there around 6 p.m. Thursday and they were just starting to clear it," he said. "It took 24 hours to clear Evergreen Avenue -- a major road -- and they're still working on it (restoring power Friday). That's unacceptable."

The Fire Department at one point had in excess of 75 calls "stacked up" during the height of the storm, according to Gottfried.

Joseloff said the reduced staffing at the Department of Public Works -- which had three people away on vacation -- couldn't do much until CL&P declared the downed power wires were dead.

While the Westport storms were not quite as fierce as a tornado, certified tornadoes did touch down Wednesday in Bristol, Litchfield, Thomaston and the Terryville section of Plymouth, the National Weather Service reported.

Gross recalled that Connecticut has been hit by an isolated tornado on a few occasions in the past, but not "four touch downs in one day."

"That's mid-America. That's not Connecticut," he added.