Power Restoration in Westport Underway, Students Back to School Monday

Editor's note: Although Westport Fire Inspector Nate Gibbons stated on Friday that school is open on Monday, Westport Patch has not been able to confirm that information.

There were 17 line crews and five tree crews working in Westport on Friday. The target areas for Friday’s restorations were: Greens Farms Elementary School, Meeker Road, Woods End Road, North Compo Road, Mayflower Parkway and Narrow Rocks Road, Westport Fire Inspector Nate Gibbons said Friday in an emergency announcement.

Crews were able to energize lines serving the Sherwood Island Connector, Greens Farms Road, and the Greens Farms train station on Thursday, Gibbons said.

Crews on Saugatuck Avenue expected to have power restoration up to Duck Pond Road by Friday night. 
The linemen teams on Harbor Road will continue advancing that main feeder line down towards the Saugatuck Shores community, he said.

"It’s getting closer every day," he said.

Also, four damaged sub-stations that power a large part of town are also being worked on today, according to Gibbons.

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“Our town has 6,878 customers still in the dark – down from around 7,000 last night. That’s 55 percent of town. Wilton has 78 percent out, Weston 63 percent, and New Canaan 68 percent. Norwalk still has 11,000 homes in the dark, and Greenwich 14,000,” Gibbons stated in the announcement.

“Now this is not a competition or a race, and after three days in the dark I know it’s getting frustrating. But I think we can look at these numbers and see that we are ahead of the curve for restorations in our part of the County,” Gibbons said.

Westport was on track to have the outage number drop below 50% by the end of Friday, and to be 90 – 95 percent restored by early next week, he said.

“I should mention that Westport’s power grid does not fit in to the political boundaries of the town. A large part of the northwest section of town receives its feed from Weston, and they are “at the mercy”, to use a poor phrase, of how work progresses in that Town. Ditto for the southwestern neighborhoods in Saugatuck that receive their power from a Norwalk feeder- they must rely on the Norwalk crews. Be assured that both teams in Weston and Norwalk are working as hard as we are,” Gibbons said.

Gibbons listed the following openings and closing in Westport:

• “Schools are closed today, but will be open on Monday.
• Tuesday is election day and schools will be closed so that polling can take place. Please make every effort to vote on Tuesday.
• Compo Beach and the marinas are open today, however Soundview Avenue will be closed all day so that heavy equipment that continue removing sand and repairing damage to the beach.
• Saugatuck Shores remains closed to the public, with only residents and storm workers allowed to enter.
• Burying Hill remains closed, although Parks & Rec Director Stew McCarthy hopes to have the worst of it fenced off so that beach can open to the public early next week.
• The Senior Center is open as a warming center. The Library and Town Hall are also open for warming and charging devices, as well as accessing the internet through WIFI. The ‘Y’ remains closed, although they are in the process of setting up portable power and heat, as well as re-opening their daycare facility. We’ll get you any re-opening information as we receive it.
• The Transfer Station the Yard Waste Site are both open.
• Metro-North is now operating along the full New Haven line- check their website for schedules. All area airports are open. If you’re driving into NYC, you must have at least three people in your car to cross the bridges.”