With Power Restored, Town Crews Haul Away Roadside Storm Debris

"I haven't been in my office in three days," remarked First Selectman Gordon F. Joseloff as he exited Fire Department Headquarters shortly after noon Friday headed for Town Hall.

Joseloff has been spending his days with other town officials in the building's Emergency Operations Center overseeing the cleanup from last Saturday's storm.

"There are about 20 customers left (in Westport) without power," said Joseloff, "and they're not happy about it." There were two Westport customers without power as a 5 p.m. Friday, according to Connecticut Light & Power. 

He said many of CL&P's crews had left Westport for Greenwich, where a much higher number of customers remained without power. (2,963 or 10.6 percent of its Greenwich customers as of 6 p.m. Friday, CL&P said.)

By 7 p.m., all power was restored to Westport residents.

Joseloff noted that CL&P tree crews would work on private property when it was necessary to cut away limbs resting on or threatening to fall on a service line attached to a residence.

Storm debris cleanup on private property is the responsibility of the owner.

Public Works crews spent the day picking up and carting away tree debris they only had time to push to the curb previously.

"We have all of the roads open," said Public Works director Stephen Edwards in his Town Hall office Friday afternoon.

The scheduled closing of Kings Highway North from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday to cut down the remains of a broken tree was canceled when two crews from Lewis Tree Service of W. Henrietta, N.Y., managed to cut away enough of the tree from power lines so CL&P crews didn't need to block the road with bucket trucks.

The larger tree segments public works crews are collecting are taken to Sherwood Island State Park. Edwards said that next week a state contractor with a "drum" grinder will cut them into large chips. In turn, he said, the town will reduce them into small chips that will be sold to residents for gardens.

Tree debris collected by residents should be taken to the town's yard waste site at 180 Bayberry La. (A press release from the town Friday morning mistakenly gave the address as 80 Bayberry La.)

The waste site will be kept open to 3 p.m. this Saturday and next. The fee for residents to dump yard waste will be waived through Sat., March 27. Commercial haulers will still be charged a fee.

Residents are urged to report property damage to the town. A report form is available at www.westportct.gov, or from the Building  Dept. on the second floor of fire headquarters at 515 Post Road East, (203) 341-5025.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office will submit damage reports from the region to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for possible reimbursement from the federal government for expenses and losses.