Crews Try to Restore Power, But Numbers of Powerless Continue to Grow

As Friday evening approached, more than 5,600 Connecticut Light & Power customers literally remained in the dark.

Utility officials say it power probably won’t be restored until sometime Saturday to customers, some of whom have been powerless since Wednesday. Kenneth Bowes, vice president of energy delivery, said two lightning strikes damage overhead power lines in a heavily wooded utility right-of-way near the Cos Cob substation on Sound Shore Drive.

A dozen crews have been conducting visual and electrical testing that have been unsuccessful in identifying the damaged sites, Bowes said following a 90-minute meeting with town officials Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile circuits and substations throughout Greenwich have been unable to handle the electrical demand of customers trying to cope with the unseasonable high temperatures and humidity. As a result, CL&P has been shutting down those pieces of equipment as they reach the breaking point, resulting in even more widespread outages. Those shutdowns were occasionally followed by repowering neighborhoods, but utility officials refused to call the operations a rolling blackout.

As of 8 p.m. Friday, there were 5,610 customers - or 20 percent of the town - without power ranging from the King Street corridor on the western edge of town and downtown, to Cos Cob and the mid- and backcountry sections.

“We can’t give an accurate time (of power restoration) because we haven’t been able to find (the problem sites),” Bowes said.

To help reduce demand on the power grid, several commercial customers relied upon generators for power on Friday. The town itself resorted to using generators to power its water treatment and sewage plants; Greenwich Hospital began using generators at 10:30 a.m., as did Witco and the Paul Tudor Jones hedge fund headquarters. Hospital spokesman George Pawlush said that patient care was not affected by the use of the generators.

Because of the outages, Greenwich Public Schools had to resort generators to power the Glenville and Parkway elementary schools.

CL&P brought generators into town to help power substations and brought in a mobile emergency operations center.

The effort was somewhat for naught as utility officials said they expected at the end of the business day demand would diminish. By 5:45 p.m., Greenwich Emergency Management Director Daniel Warzoha walked into First Selectman Peter Tesei’s office to report that Cos Cob had gone dark.

In an effort to provide relief to residents, the town and the Greenwich Chapter of the American Red Cross is using the Bendheim Western Greenwich Civic Center as a cooling center. CL&P will provide a cooling facility at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich on Saturday, according to town and Red Cross officials. Those facilities will open at 9 a.m. Saturday.

With the outage along the King Street corridor, the Greenwich Emergency Medical Service had to relocate its western Greenwich substation to the Glenville Fire Department on Glenville Road. The town-owned Griffith Harris golf course had reduced service and The Fairways restaurant in the course’s clubhouse was offering a limited menu, according to Joseph Siciliano, town Parks and Recreation director.

Meanwhile, the First Selectman’s office was fielding dozens of calls from frustrated and irate residents seeking information. At one point, in between meetings late Friday afternoon, First Selectman Peter Tesei was answering the phones.

Richmond Hill Road resident Jean-Pierre Diels went to Tesei’s office to voice his concerns. He said he was using a generator for his home for a day-and- a-half. “I’m here because now there isn’t any cell phone service. The cell towers have failed,” said Diels. He said he was concerned the lack of cell phone service would impede residents’ ability to summon emergency services.

The town also posted information on emergency procedures and guidelines for residents on its website.

Check back with Patch for the latest updates on power restoration.