March 15, 2010 5:40 pm

Norwalk Storm Update Monday Evening

from a press release:

The City continues to work closely with the electric utilities to get public streets reopened and power restored to all residents and businesses. There are still many streets that remain closed due to downed trees and/or power lines � clearing these are the top priority of the Public Works Department working in coordination with the utilities. �Clearing these is also essential to restoring power to neighborhoods that have not been re-energized. ��We also ask residents to keep in mind that a tree entangled with lines cannot be cleared until the power company confirms that the power in the line has been turned off.

It is recognized that there is a great amount of storm debris on private properties throughout the City.� Although the City would like to assist residents in hauling this debris away from their properties, it simply does not have the resources to do so.� However, the Yard Debris Site on South Smith Street has been opened and will remain open from 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM Monday through Friday at least for the next two (2) weeks.

Many of the trees that have fallen across City streets are not City trees, i.e., were not growing in the City right-of-way or on City property, but were trees growing solely on private property.� In an effort to open public streets, the Department of Public Works has opened the streets by cutting and moving the trees off the shoulder of the road.� It is the responsibility of the property owner to remove the debris from their trees.

Residents are reminded that there are still trees toppling today.� Wet and loose soil conditions are making it difficult for some trees to remain stable, especially those that were partially moved or dislodged by extreme winds over the weekend.� Because they have small, weaker root structures, large evergreens are particularly at risk.� Residents are urged to examine the trees on their private property and to report at-risk City trees to the Customer Service Center � (203) 854-3200 or customerservice@norwalkct.org.

Residents are also reminded that there are numerous situations across the City where trees are laying against power lines but have not yet broken the lines or fallen to the ground.� These should be reported, as well, so the power company can deal with them.� Walking or driving under such conditions should be avoided.

from the inside

One of the many differances between Moccia and Bloomberg is that Moccia is feading the media and taxpayers a bunch of lies and crap regarding the poor Emergency Management which he is the King Pin for, Whereas Bloomberg actually called Con Edison to the table, performed a major investigation, and might have even recovered some funding due to Con Ed’s poor response to the power outage in Queens a couple of years ago.

Don’t listen to the spin people!!

CL&P was called off the road just as DPW was called off the road. Major roads/emergency routes were and maybe still have not been cleared. There is no excuse!! High Winds?!? There was plenty of wires on the ground the should have been cut and pulled back to open roads. CL&P was pulled off the road again last night at 8 or 8:30.
A previous post on “The Hour Blog” stated before that there was not much inconvieniance since it was not really cold. What about people that require oxygen or other medical equipment? How about we pay alot of money for electricity transmission. We deserve a better service. How about not having the ability to get an ambulance or fire truck to your house because nobody cleared the roads.

DPW, never saw ‘em! What a joke!

The fact is our leaders/emergency managers dropped the ball. Generators out of fuel?!?! WHAT!!! I’ll excuse Chief Rilling from this category. I here he doubled his police force, anticipating the storm.

Oh by the way, your taxes are going up. Sewer use fee(another word for tax).

We need some real city leaders that know how to manage!!

This post is just one example

of the *crap* that has been overloading the comment section of the storm stories on The Hour’s website yesterday and today. Apparently this poster seems to think that all the trees and downed wires should have been cleaned up within 2-3 hours of the storm’s end on Sunday morning. It’s really unfortunate that this person has such a tenous grasp on reality and is so eager to prove it over and over again on a public newspaper site.

NorwalkSpectator

There just, maybe just, be a reason why the crews were called back.

It’s 9:30 p.m. and the winds are picking up again. If you read the original article, you’d remember the fact that there are trees that have been weakened by the wind and could easily fall. There have already been two deaths as a direct result of the storm, I’m more than willing to leave the body count at that rather than have someone get killed because he or she was working on the power lines when it was dark and he or she was hit by a tree limb when the winds picked up again. Of course, that’s just me.

By the way, we’ve had a tree down and blocking our road since early Saturday evening and guess who just rolled up the street with yellow lights flashing? DPW. In our case, the wires have already been taken care of, but I can testify to the fact that the guys are out there working. I can see them from the window.
from the inside

Spec: It’s Monday night. This storm occurred Saturday evening. Good thing you didn’t have an emergency on your street!

NorwalkSpectator

Obviously you are a “glass half empty” sort of person. If there had been an emergency on this street, and there very well could have been since there are “vulnerable” people living here, you really think the NPD and the NFD would have just shrugged and turned away? ” Whoops, there’s a tree down. Can’t get through. Well, too bad for them.”?

Hey, I’m not going to argue with you, you’re entitled to your opinion. In the event of a major problem, there are two access points here. I’m sure the NPD and NFD knows both of them.

Kurm Udgeon

It could be that from the inside is seeing things from the position of anal cranial submersion. They prescribe medicine for what ails you. However, your politics continues to cloud your perception of reality. I will reiterate:
1) No one has died in Norwalk
2) Westport, New Canaan and Greenwich have been hit much harder and have had loss of life. There are people who cannot even leave their streets due to down trees.
3) You don’t deserve to have your inconvenience alleviated on demand; you just aren’t that important.
4) Folks are risking their lives to get things back to normal.
If you want to stew, please don’t dump your crap on the rest of us, who don’t care one whit about your troubles. Think of the public good for once, not your instant gratification.
Mother Nature does indeed roar

Kurm Udgeon said :

“You don�t deserve to have your inconvenience alleviated on demand; you just aren�t that important.”

We really need to reiterate this:

YOU DON’T DESERVE TO HAVE YOUR ****INCONVENIENCE ALLEVIATED ON DEMAND****; YOU JUST AREN’T THAT IMPORTANT.

Thank you Kurm Udgeon for the best post I’ve seen so far.
http://YourCT.com Anonymouse

Well, first of all, let’s be THANKFUL we haven’t had serious medical emergencies because we might have been screwed if we had.
It was kind of amusing – I’m saying this from the position of being one of the lucky few in town who lost no services at all and also didn’t have any serious storm damage other than a lot of tree branches and a garbage pail MIA – to get a phone call from the mayor outlining what was going on. Those of us who had the power to hear the call weren’t the ones who needed to know what we going on! And no, I don’t know the answer to that problem – nor did I choose to run for office.
I do know that it would be very helpful if police could be stationed at the ends of streets that aren’t passable so you don’t get halfway down and have to turn around in a tight spot when it would have been easier to just avoid the street altogether.