The number of power outages in Naugatuck dropped by 554 from Wednesday morning to Wednesday afternoon.
As of 4:30 p.m., Connecticut Light & Power reported that there were 659 power outages in Naugatuck, down from 1,213 this morning.
Naugatuck Mayor Robert Mezzo explained on his blog that CL&P crews are in Naugatuck, working to clear downed power lines and restoring power.
Mezzo said that power may be restored to certain areas sooner than others, depending on the difficulty to fix the problem and the number of customers on a particular circuit.
Naugatuck Town Hall, which had been closed Monday and Tuesday, is open and operating and borough schools will be open Thursday.
In Beacon Falls the number of outages dipped slightly Wednesday from 430 to 415 as of 4:30 p.m.
Beacon Falls First Selectman Gerard Smith said in a letter on the town’s website that CL&P has dispatched one line crew to restore power to the western portion of the town. This repair could be complete by tomorrow morning, he said. All other residents without power will still be in the CL&P assessment timeline, and further details will be made available Thursday. Smith said CL&P advises that this could be a prolonged event, with power unavailable for up to 10 days.
Prospect, which had the lowest number of outages in the area, remained relatively flat as far as power outages are concerned dropping from 136 to 133 as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The middle and elementary schools will be open Thursday in Region 16, which covers Beacon Falls and Prospect. The only question is whether Woodland Regional High School will be open.
Region 16 schools were closed Wednesday because Woodland had no water as power to the pumps that provide water to the school comes from Oxford, which was knocked out.
According to the district office, CL&P was working on getting power restored to the pump house at Woodland Wednesday. Power is expected to be restored so the school can open Thursday, but that may not be known until later Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
Across the state, there were 318,443 CL&P customers without power as of this post.
Bill Quinlan, CL&P’s senior vice president for emergency preparedness, said that the damage assessments are expected to continue throughout the day.
“This is a circuit-by-circuit patrol. We have 17,000 miles of distribution line in Connecticut, and once we have inspected a sufficient amount to assess our damage and project our damage, we’ll then have a basis to determine how long it takes, how many crews do we need to drive the restoration and where should we be placing them,” Quinlan said.
Quinlan declined to give an estimate on Tuesday as to when the power might be restored across the state.
The Republican American contributed to this article.
