CL&P Rep Joins Town Emergency Operations

Farmington residents, take heart. Connecticut Light and Power is here and at work in town. The utilities company, much maligned for lack of communication during Tropical Storm Irene, has a liaison stationed at the town’s emergency operations center at the .

Luann Cataudella has joined Farmington Police Chief Paul Melanson, Director of Fire and Rescue Services Mary-Ellen Harper at the EOC to facilitate communications between the town and CL&P. School Superintendent Kathleen Greider and the town’s department heads were at the center this morning.

“We did it for the first time during Hurricane Irene and it worked well but we got a lot of feedback so hopefully this time will be better,” she said of the town liaison strategy.

One of her responsibilities is to communicate the town’s priorities to the utility company. Power is usually restored first to hospitals, police departments and schools but towns can direct restoration efforts.

What are they doing now?

Restoration efforts haven’t started yet, Cataudella said. Right now, CL&P is working on cleanup and assessment, using Asplundh to clear away trees to make it safe for line crews to go in. Currently, CL&P has one crew in the area – that’s up one from Sunday.

“The big problem is transmission wires. Those are the ones that bring power into the area. In Irene transmission lines weren’t affected. That’s why this storm is so much worse,” she said.

The transmission lines, in addition to affecting a greater area, also carry a greater amount of energy. Fixing them requires a five-person crew with special training.

So how long should residents anticipate they’ll be without power?

“Expect it to be a week,” she said. But, that estimate might be conservative. “We try to under-commit and over-deliver. It may not be a week but people should plan on it.”