<p>My kids are back in school this week, although no school today (election day-PD day). My senior D worried about when graduation will be and how this will affect ability to get her normal summer job if she can’t start until July! We have already used up 10 school closure days (5 for Irene, 5 for this storm), are currently chopping some days off April break, but we haven’t even hit winter yet!!??</p>
<p>I walked through my yard this morning with the tree guy who is going to come in and clean up the mess. It’s amazing. I think we have more branches and trees down in this storm than we’ve had in the last 18 years all together. There’s still broken branches way up high that are threatening to come down, as well as huge limbs on the ground.</p>
<p>It’s really sad.</p>
<p>Agreed…the trees are a mess around here too. We have a bunch of branches that are hanging “loosely” in the trees (they call them widow makers). We can chop up the little stuff…but I think we are going to need the tree guy and the bucket loader for some of this.</p>
<p>There are sections of main roads where there are PILES of trees (and the broken utility poles) in piles at the sides. It’s going to take a LONG time to clean all of this up.</p>
<p>There is an oak tree in my town which is the “symbol” of the town. It’s image is on the town seal. It is close to 450 years old. It was so heavily damaged in the storm, many people I know said that they actually cried when they saw it. I haven’t seen it yet but expect to have the same reaction. Still to be determined whether or not it can be saved. So, so, so sad.</p>
<p>(google “Granby Oak” if you are interested. The Land Trust page that comes up has some pictures of the damaged tree. There are some beautiful pics of the pre-storm tree on the other pages)</p>
<p>Justamom- I almost want to cry just reading your post.</p>
<p>CL&P lineworkers say restrictions slowed them down
Centralized dining, 16-hour days slowed power restoration
BY DAVID KRECHEVSKY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN </p>
<p>Connecticut Light & Power Co.'s rules for its lineworkers extended the statewide power restoration effort by days, the utility’s lineworkers say.</p>
<p>From restricting workers to 16-hour days to requiring them to dine in centralized locations, lineworkers say CL&P’s practices are the reason the rank-and-file never expected to be able to meet the utility’s self-imposed deadline of restoring power to 99 percent of customers by Sunday night.</p>
<p>The utility also expected to miss its updated deadline Monday night.</p>
<p>DocT, I read that article too…the odd part about it was that if you then looked at the graph the Republican American printed with outages in their circulation area, they were WELL under 1% by Sunday. </p>
<p>There was an excellent woman on WTIC this morning from CL and P…as a spokesperson. She said…there were many unanticipated obstacles that were encountered once the work began. Workers found wires snarled around trees…not just trees leaning against the wires. The damage was far more extensive than anyone would have believed it was going to be. </p>
<p>Here’s hoping everyone gets their power on ASAP…safely.</p>
<p>“Among large utilities in the eastern United States, CL&P ranked 14 out of 17 in the July 2011 survey of residential electric customers. That did represent an improvement from the previous year when CL&P came in last.”</p>
<p>[CL&P</a> Reports Millions Spent on Customer Service - Courant.com](<a href=“http://www.courant.com/business/hc-nu-earnings-call-1108-20111107,0,761056.story?obref=obnetwork]CL&P”>http://www.courant.com/business/hc-nu-earnings-call-1108-20111107,0,761056.story?obref=obnetwork)</p>
<p>Sometimes ya just gotta laugh.</p>
<p>OK…no responses because it will turn political…but I blame the GOVERNOR of this state. The utility is regulated by the DPUC which is in HIS domain. CL&P has put money in their budgets every year for tree trimming and such. The DPUC has cut this budget every year for the last 10 years. Seems to me the governor is throwing the chairperson of C L & P under the bus and the governor is grandstanding. Sorry…but he’s in charge supposedly. He is supposed to know what is going on. My bet is that he had precious little interaction with CL &P regarding their emergency plan and how it was going to be IMPLEMENTED…since Hurricane Irene which was not that long ago.</p>
<p>I do feel badly for those who are still without power and it HAS been a long time. But for those of you across the country who aren’t here, you would be shocked at the extent of the damage.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to a youtube video of some damage in a nearby town. Really - it was like this everywhere you looked. This is so typical of what you’d see everywhere.</p>
<p>[Nov</a> 11 001.MOV - YouTube](<a href=“Nov 11 001.MOV - YouTube”>Nov 11 001.MOV - YouTube)</p>
<p>I have a co-worker whose power was just restored today, but in the process of restoring, CL&P fried her stove, microwave, coffeemaker, garage door opener and possibly the furnace due to some problem with the power from the transformer. Whoops.</p>
<p>Day 12 in Connecticut - Just a few towns with >1% still without power. Two towns are notable exceptions, one with 7% of customers still out, and the other with 17% out. Things are much improved … unless of course you’re one of the unlucky 4650 customers that still have no power.</p>
<p>[Outage</a> Map](<a href=“http://outage.cl-p.com/outage/outagemap.aspx]Outage”>http://outage.cl-p.com/outage/outagemap.aspx)
[CL&P’s</a> Butler says 31 towns won’t have 99 percent restoration by end of Sunday - Courant.com](<a href=“s – Hartford Courant”>http://www.courant.com/news/weather/hc-october-snowstorm-20111028,0,3272321.story)</p>
<p>For CT CL & P folks without power…I got a robocall this morning. They wanted folks without power to call in and report especially if nearby homes HAD power. Of course many folks won’t get this robocall because they have cordless phones/no internet/no phones because they are bundled with their cable packages.</p>
<p>SO…if you’re reading this and you without power…let CL &P know.</p>
<p>And thank goodness it’s again 70 degrees here!</p>
<p>Here is a wonderful informational graphic showing Connecticut’s recovery from the storm. Highly recommended. You can clearly see the dividing line between the heavier and lighter snow accumulations. </p>
<p>[Interactive</a> Progression Of Power Restoration - Courant.com](<a href=“http://www.courant.com/news/weather/hc-connecticut-power-outage-map-flash-11-01,0,3303380.flash]Interactive”>http://www.courant.com/news/weather/hc-connecticut-power-outage-map-flash-11-01,0,3303380.flash)</p>
<p>I live in the black hole in the NW side of that map! It really was a storm that was unbelievable. I still say that areas looked like a tornado went through…poles and trees just snapped off. </p>
<p>It will take a long time to clean up the mess.</p>
<p>The Courant had an editorial this morning about the Granby Oak & the efforts to save it.</p>