Officials Remember March 2010 Storm, Prepare Ahead

With flooding, rainy weather and more spring storms ahead, local emergency managers and responders can't help but think back to last year's March storm that brought hurricane like winds and damage to Fairfield County.

The March 13-14, 2010, storm was only forecast to bring 40 mph winds but resulted in gusts upwards of 65 mph. It across the county, left and .

"I think anytime you get a storm, you look for your strengths and weaknesses and what you can do to improve on them and how you prepare," said Capt. Sam Arciola of the Westport Police Department, which received 1,700 calls from reported emergencies to power outages during that 48-hour period. "For the most part, we've always prepared well ahead of time and put the proper staffing levels out there and equipment to deal with situations.

In Greenwich, officials considered the forecasts from the private weather service it uses and the National Weather Service and activated its Emergency Operations Center in , and First Selectman Peter Tesei declared a state of emergency. “They were diametrically opposed in their forecasts,” said Greenwich Emergency Management Director Dan Warzoha. “We had sustained winds of 50 mph with gusts of 81-plus mph. The impact on the town … it was an equal opportunity storm. It hit every part of town.”

“We had signs of big trouble by 4 p.m. Saturday, March 13,” Warzoha recalled. “We knew we were in trouble with multiple trees down; multiple poles down. The town’s radio system began to fail. The parapet at collapsed and Route 1 was shut down because of the poles and live wires down.”

The town was trying to use its reverse 911 emergency telephone notification system. But as the town’s power grid failed, so did the notification system. According to Warzoha, “We had an 81 percent effective reach at 4 p.m. Saturday; 68 percent at 6:40 and by 10:20 p.m., it was 21 percent.”

The storm knocked out power to 80 percent of the town.

REVIEWING THE RESPONSE
Both local and state departments conducted reviews of the storm response. One of the major criticisms of that storm was that the utility companies did not respond quickly enough.

Based on a review by the state Department of Public Utility Control, Connecticut Light & Power recognized that "communications with cities and municipalities on restoration efforts was inadequate," according to its Oct. 26, 2010, report. However, the DPUC also noted that the utility suffered from "continuing inaccuracies in official weather service forecasts."

Darien Emergency Management Director Marc McEwan said some strides have been made regarding communication between local officials and the utility companies. But still, town workers can't clear streets if the utility companies haven't deemed the roads safe and the power lines dead where wires have fallen. And, the utility companies only have so many crews, McEwan said.

Warzoha said the disaster helped improve disaster planning and response communications among the 14 towns in the region. "Now before any major event, all 14 towns have a conference call and let everyone know what their emergency and rescue capabilities are," said Warzoha.

PREPARING FOR THE WORST
Mitch Gross, spokesman for CL&P, said the utility company learned a lot from the March storm and has taken numerous steps to improve. Of those efforts, Gross said the company has added 150 employees who serve as town liaisons to the company's storm efforts. Gross said CL&P also continues to upgrade its system and is currently spending $1 million on tree trimming in Norwalk, Greenwich and New Canaan to avoid trees falling on power lines.

If Fairfield County were to experience another March storm this year of the same magnitude, Gross said the utilty's response would be "much quicker and much stronger."

Fire Chief Christopher Ackley of the Westport Fire Department said time will tell because CL&P response is the Achilles' heel of town restoration. Without them, the firefighters can't do their jobs.

"I think (CL&P) has been more responsive but on a bigger event like that March storm, that was an overwhelming issue," he said. "I think to see if they gear up sooner, time will tell. The cooperation has improved. It was never that bad, it was just getting resources into town in a timely fashion."

As for the residents, Ackley said they should prepare themselves to be without power in the event of another storm.

New Canaan Assistant Fire Chief Jack Hennessey agreed and said residents must be prepared to have no electricity or water for 48 hours because the nature of a regional emergency means CL&P must determine which areas they can get the most people back online sooner. Residents should also be sure to have sump pumps on hand in the event of basement flooding because the fire department doesn't have equipment to pump them out, he said.

In terms of local restoration, Ackley said residents should not expect the same level of service they have had in the past due to budget constraints that don't allow for as much overtime.

"We will have to prioritize the  incidents and deal with them as best we can," he said. "They will be incident and response appropriate."

Warzoha said Greenwich is better prepared today than it was last year, especially with the installation of a backup radio systems, the embedding of the town's Geographical Information System into the Emergency Operations Center to more quickly pinpoint problem areas, and using common radio frequencies between the Greenwich and Stamford Fire departments to allow for better communications during emergencies.

Greenwich Local Editor Barbara Heins contributed to this report.