Tracking Hurricane Sandy: Emergency Communications in Guilford

Guilford's town website recently posted "Community Emergency Service: Be Aware and Prepare," which details policies and procedures for the town, as well as preparations to make. The following information about emergency communications in the town.

Actions you should take to stay informed about the Hurricane:

BEFORE a Community Emergency

1.) Have a battery powered radio capable of receiving AM, FM and Weather frequencies. Preferably, the radio should have a hand crank that enables you to generate energy for operation if all batteries are exhausted.

2.) Reverse 911 messaging services to receive notification of emergencies and government instructions for citizen response.

Go to the following links to register for these services:

The Town of Guilford Reverse 911 is automatically updated for all Guilford residential numbers identified to the service by AT&T for conventional land lines only. It does not include Internet VOIP or cell numbers unless individuals have specifically registered them with the Town.

State of Connecticut

You must sign in for the State’s Emergency Notification Service if you wish to receive messages.

3.) Regularly monitor local news and weather reports to establish situational awareness of evolving events that may affect our state, region or town. Town government will use as many of the following channels as possible to communicate status and specific instructions.

Such resources may include: Town of Guilford Website

Town of Guilford Facebook Page

Guilford Community TV (GCTV) * Comcast Channel 20

Uverse Channel 99 / Guilford / Government TV Channels *

3 WFSB Hartford,
8 WNHC New Haven 30 WVIT New Britain 61 Fox Hartford

Radio stations *
KC101 101.3 FM

WPLR WEZN WLIS WELI

99.1 FM 99.9 FM 1420 AM 960 AM

* These are also used by the Guilford School District to announce school closings and early dismissals: School closings and other important information will be communicated through our SchoolMessenger notification system via phone and email. Current information will be posted on our district website.  Our servers are backed up with generators, however, it is possible that a widespread power outage or downed power/communication lines may still impact our website.
 
We will send information to TV channels 3, 6, 8, and 30. These stations will post all school closings on their websites. More detailed information will also be available on local cable channel 19 provided there is power. Announcements will also be sent to radio stations 99.9 FM, 1420 AM, and 99.1 FM. 

4.) If the nature of the event is an approaching storm and you anticipate the possibility of evacuating, be sure to gather contact information of friends and family for future contact, and let key members know of your possible plans for evacuation, how you can be reached, or how you intend to reach them afterward.

DURING a Community Emergency

1.) Continue to monitor the media resources identified in Item 3 above for as long as they may be available to learn of evolving events.

2.) If you experience a personal health or safety emergency, contact emergency services through the normal 911 procedure, but be aware of the possibility that these services may be disabled by events, or the emergency services may be overwhelmed with other calls.

3.) Report service failures to your related utility

AT&T: 1-800-288-2020

CL&P: 1-800-286-2000

Comcast: 1-800-266-2278

Connecticut Water Company: 1-800-286-5700

Southern Connecticut Gas: 1-800-513-8898

Verizon Wireless: 1-800 922-0204

AFTER the immediate Emergency Event

 1.) Continue to monitor all available media for changes in community status and recovery response.

2.) Report damage or utility outages to appropriate town or utility officials to assist them in determining recovery status and priorities.

3.) Above all, be patient. First responders will be under tremendous pressure to provide service under adverse circumstances and far beyond their normal capacity. They may be augmented by volunteers who are doing their best to fill gaps in government capacity. And there are likely many other citizens throughout town experiencing the same challenges as you.

This is only part of the document available on the town website, for full detailed information, please refer to the Town of Guilford's Website. Further information includes evacuation policies and other resources.