Joseloff: CL&P Response "Is Not Acceptable"

After touring damage in Westport Thursday, First Selectman Gordon Joseloff said he is "very disappointed" with Connecticut Light & Power's response to Wednesday's storm.

About 3,800 Westporters remain without power as of 6:05 p.m., which was up from the 1,600 reported to be without power at 4 p.m. Traffic signals were also reported to be out between the Sherwood Island Connector and Morningside Drive around 4 p.m.

Calls continued to come into the Emergency Operations Center at Westport Fire Headquarters Thursday afternoon for downed trees and wires and an underground transformer fire.

Joseloff said of the utility's crews working in Westport, none are working with the town's police, fire or public works departments.

CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross said that's not true and a representative met with the selectman and fire chief at 3 p.m. to bring them up to date. He's not sure what the meeting entailed but said the utility is communicating with the town.

"I thought we'd made some headway after the March storm in coordination and cooperation and how we are going to respond and it's not happening," Joseloff said. "I'm not sure where the problem is but we supposedly have six crews in town. I don't know where they are. The Police Department doesn't know where they are. The Fire Department doesn't know where they are. Public Works doesn't know where they are. They may be working and clearing but they haven't been working with us. ... This is not acceptable."

"There are large amounts of debris and trees to clear and our guys can't do that unless the wires are declared dead," Joseloff continued. "They (the utility) may declare a wire to be dead but they won't stay around to tell our guys that."

Joseloff said he hopes the power is restored by "late tonight" as CL&P claims, but said he doesn't have much confidence in their estimates.

Gross said the utility will continue to communicate with town leaders and make sure the town gets answers to its questions.

"We have people down there and they will be in touch," Gross said. "That's their job."

Gross maintains the vast majority of customers should see power restored by "late tonight."

"We continue to work as quickly as we can to restore power in Westport and all the other towns," he said. "We have restored power to over 68,000 customers today and we have over 200 crews working throughout the state, including Westport."