18 Percent of Simsbury CL&P Clients Lose Power

Eighteen percent of Connecticut Light and Power clients in Simsbury lost power on Thursday, according to a CL&P outage summary, as severe downpours, thunder and lightning swept through the Farmington Valley in the evening.

As of 7 p.m., CL&P estimated that more than 1,800 Simsbury customers had experienced power outages.

Theresa Gilbert, CL&P communications specialist, said that the power company is in the "assessment phase" of determining the extent of the damage from the storm statewide and will "patrol and analyze" its "equipment in the daylight" tomorrow.

CL&P has opened its Emergency Operations Center in Berlin, manned with over 100 contractor line and tree crews to restore power to customers, according to a press release.

"We have been carefully watching the weather and put plans in place so we have crews and support staff ready to respond once the storm moves through," Al Roy, CL&P's manager of emergency management, said in the press release. "As always, we will be working with town and state officials to coordinate our efforts."

The Natonal Weather Service has issued a thunderstorm watch in northern Connecticut, effective until 10 p.m., and a flood advisory in the Greater Hartford area that will last until 7:45 p.m.

CL&P offers the following tips in this severe weather:

• If you lose power, you can contact CL&P at 800-286-2000, or 860-947-2000 in the Hartford/Meriden area.
• "Stay at least 10 feet away from all wires," and "assume any downed, hanging or burning power lines are live and dangerous." Call 9-1-1 immediately if you spot one. 
• Stay in your vehicle if a power line falls on it. Wait for emergency responders to arrive after calling 911, and do not touch the outside of your vehicle.
• If you have a generator in your home, do not operate it unless a licensed electrician has properly installed it.  Otherwise, it may feed "electricity back into power lines and pose a deadly situation for our workers," according to the press release. Also, "operate generators outdoors to avoid carbon monoxide hazards."

How else can you find out about power outages in your area?

• Follow CL&P on Twitter at twitter.com/CTlightandpower for updates. Just before 7 p.m., a tweet from CL&P said, "Storms caused heavy & widespread damage across CL&P's system. Crews are mobilized but restoration may take several days to complete."
• CL&P has an outage map on its website.