CL&P Officials: Restoration Under Way, No Time-Line Yet

Nearly 204,000 customers were restored with power Monday, Connecticut Light & Power officials said, but with the rare October snowstorm leaving more than that 831,000 homes and businesses without power, there's still a lot of work to be done.

Residents are asked to have patience as roads are continually cleared and issues addressed. The anticipation is it could still be a week before all power is restored in Farmington.

"We expect the pace of restoration to quicken as damage assessments are completed, blocked roads are cleared and additional crews arrive to help with the effort," Jeffrey Butler, CL&P’s president and chief operating officer, said in a press release.

"Our projection for complete restoration remains the same: we expect it to take a week or more in some areas. We will continue bringing in more crews to improve on that projection and we will provide more detailed restoration estimates as soon as we have sufficient information to offer specific projections," Butler said.

In Farmington, outages increased every day since the storm and reached 12,012  Monday night, according to data provided by CL&P. Farmington has 12,289 customers. Statweide there are still 724,000 without power.

A dedicated CL&P crew joined Farmington's Department of Public Works Monday to begin clearing roads of wires and debris in preparation for restoration.

Many areas of the state, particularly in the northwest and north central parts of Connecticut still have roads blocked and areas inaccessible to crews, slowing assessment processes and restoration efforts, CL&P said.

Although work has begun, there is no exact time-line as crews continue to clear roads and finish assessments, CL&P said. A time-line could be available as early as Tuesday morning.

Here are some additional tips from CL&P to help residents follow the process step-by-step and stay safe while waiting for power to return.
 
Important Safety Reminders

• If you come across a downed line, consider it to be live and dangerous. Call 9-1-1 immediately and report it. Stay at least 10 feet away from the downed wire.
• If a generator is installed incorrectly to a home's wiring, it can cause power to "backfeed," or flow back into the power lines, creating a dangerous situation for the public and for our line crews who may be working nearby. To avoid this situation, have a qualified electrician connect the generator with a transfer switch, so that it is not connected directly to your home’s wiring. 
• To avoid the accumulation of deadly carbon monoxide, only use a generator outdoors. Never use a generator indoors, in an attached garage, a basement, or a crawl space.
• Avoid using a generator in a partially enclosed inhabited space, even if it is ventilated; opening doors and windows or using fans will not prevent carbon monoxide build-up. If placing it outdoors, make sure the generator is far from a home's doors, windows and vents.

To report or check on an outage
Residents with Internet access can access a town-by-town list at http://www.cl-p.com/outage/mobile.aspx or by phone at (800) 286-2000. You can also get updates on Farmington by texting "Outage 06032" to 24612. CL&P has not recognized the 06085 zip code by text.