Injuries, Damage And Outages In Fairfield After Isaias

FAIRFIELD, CT — Tropical Storm Isaias blew through Fairfield on Tuesday, bringing injuries, damage and widespread power outages in its wake.

With sustained winds of 50 mph and one gust reaching 67 mph, falling trees were a major issue Tuesday, according to Fairfield Fire Department Lt. Robert Smith.

A tree fell through the windshield of a vehicle traveling northbound just after 5:30 p.m. between Exit 44 and Exit 46 on the Merritt Parkway, causing injuries requiring extrication, Smith said. As of about 9 p.m., Smith did not know how many were hurt or the severity of the injuries.

Emergency personnel had been notified of 466 incidents related to the storm as of about 9 p.m., according to Smith. The parts of town hit particularly hard included downtown, Jennings Road, Tunxis Hill and Greenfield Hill.

“It’s been pretty spread all over,” he said.

As of about 8:15 p.m., 219 roads were partially blocked and 91 were completely closed, the fire department said in a Facebook post. Trees had fallen on 36 houses, according to Smith.

“A lot of those houses have significant damages to them,” he said.

As of about 3:45 a.m. Wednesday, 54 percent of United Illuminating Co. customers in Fairfield — or 13,017 customers — were without power, according to UI's outage map, down from Tuesday's peak of more than 60 percent of customers. The outages were expected to continue through the night, according to Smith.

Tuesday’s damage was almost entirely wind-related, Smith said. The tide was down when the storm blew in, so flooding wasn’t an issue. Residents were asked mid-afternoon to shelter in place, and Town Hall offices and Fairfield beaches closed early.

For more information about specific outages, visit bit.ly/39SDtig. To report an outage, call 800-722-5584 or go to uinet.com. For storm-related assistance that is not an emergency, call 203-254-4800.