Office of Emergency Management Press Release

Sunday, August 28, 2011 8am

As landfall of Hurricane Irene is imminent, the overnight winds have left multiple roads closed due to downed trees – many involving power lines.  Until the winds abate and it is safe for CL&P linemen to venture out, clean-up cannot begin.  Where possible, downed trees that do not involve wires will be cleared as soon as safely possible.

For the safety of all residents, effective last at midnight a curfew was enacted for the town of New Canaan.  No one should be driving or walking on the roads.  This curfew is in effect until further notice.

If you have lost power please contact Northeast Utilities to report the outage at 1-800-286-2000 or you can go on-line to www.cl-p.com.

Due to the multiple road closures, the response of emergency services will be extremely limited.

For storm related, non-emergency questions, please call the Emergency Operations Center at 203-594-4100.  911 should be used for emergency calls only.

Following is a list of safety tips to help get through the next few days:

• Stay away from downed trees – live power lines may be involved.  Metal fences and guardrails may also become energized.
• Avoid using candles if you lose power.  If you must, never leave them unattended and keep them away from combustibles.
• If you have a portable generator, make sure it is outside and if you are back-feeding your home through an outlet, make sure that you turn off the main breaker to avoid back-feeding the street, thereby endangering workers trying to restore power.

It is expected that it will be several days before some roads are cleared and as long as a week before full power is restored.  Residents are requested to be patient and check on neighbors.

Following is a list where further information can be found:

Town website at www.newcanaan.info

Channel 79, the Town’s cable access channel

WICC 600 am

WNLK 1350 am

On facebook at www.newcanaanoem.com