Winds pick up, power outages reported

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The intersection of Route 68 and Route 69 in Prospect sits empty Monday afternoon as the winds and rain pick up. –LUKE MARSHALL

Hurricane Sandy has begun its assault on the state.

As of this post, Durham Center, Cromwell, and Windsor are the only towns across the states which are not reporting any outages.

As of 4 p.m., Prospect had 484 reported outages, Naugatuck had 216 reported outages, and Beacon Falls had two reported outages, according to Connecticut Light and Power’s outage map.

Prospect Mayor Robert Chatfield said that winds have knocked over a few trees in the town. A tree fell on a house on Cheshire Road and a tree fell on a car on Laura Avenue, Chatfield said. Both of those roads were open as of this post.

A tree also fell across Cook Road and took out power lines near the trailer park, Chatfield said. A crew is working to open the road, but the power will not be turned back on immediately, Chatfield said.

Due to the storm, there will be no recycling pick-up on Tuesday, Chatfield said. Prospect residents who were scheduled to have their recycling picked up Tuesday will have it picked up in two weeks.

Chatfield also wanted residents to know that there will be no mass at St. Anthony’s Church Tuesday morning.

Beacon Falls First Selectman Gerard Smith said that the town is fairing well thus far.

Smith said branches and trees have come down, but crews are working to make sure everything is cleaned up immediately.

The emergency operations center at the Beacon Falls fire house is open and ready, but there has not been any need for it.

“We’re here, ready and waiting, but it’s been quiet so far,” Smith said.

At 3 p.m. Naugatuck Mayor Robert Mezzo posted a warning about high wind speeds on his blog.

“Wind speed is expected to increase over the next several hours as Storm Sandy approaches the New Jersey coast. We are likely to experience significant power outages during this time,” Mezzo wrote.

He went on to explain that there is a CL&P crew in the borough, but its efforts will be focused on clearing away any fallen trees, downed wires, or utility poles that the storm knocks over.

Borough officials are working out of the emergency operation center at the police department.

As of 4 p.m. no emergency shelters had been opened in any of the three towns.