Hurricane Sandy Info for Ledyard: School Cancelled, Trick or Treating Postponed

Updated Tuesday, 5 p.m.:

Ledyard schools are cancelled for Wednesday but the central office will be open for regular business and phone calls. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Graner said five of the six schools are in the dark and not all the roads are passable for buses.

The Bill Library will be open tonight until 9 p.m. and both libraries will resume regular business hours Wednesday.

Town representatives are asking parents to do trick or treating on Monday, Nov. 5 instead of tomorrow. They cautioned that wires, branches and trees may still be in the road, which would create hazardous conditions for drivers and pedestrians. By the way, students do not have school on Tuesday, Nov. 6 for Election Day.

Updated Tuesday 10:00 a.m.
The sewage treatment plant is up and running and the water use restrictions are lifted and, although Ledyard didn't suffer nearly as much infrastructure damage as during Irene, 69 percent of CL&P's customers in Ledyard are in the dark according to the outage map.

"The infrastructure damage didn't happen nearly as bad as last time," Emergency Management Director McGucken, of the storm.

There are 14 complete road closures in town, there are there are 45 partial road closures (listed below).

"We're clearing away, but waiting for CL&P," said Dean Hunniford, the superintendent of Public Works.  He said there are four public works crews on the road clearing what they can.

Hunniford the said there are about six trees out there without wires, and he anticipates they will be cleared away by public works crews soon. Hunniford left the meeting to coordinate with CL&P tree crews and electrical contractors awaiting orders for clearing.

The public schools central office will be open for routine business Wednesday but McGucken and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Graner are holding off on canceling school Wednesday until they have a better idea of how many roads are passable and if all the schools have power. A decision will be made later today

Town Hall will be open for routine business Wednesday and will be open until 6:00 p.m. as a charging station and for water, according to Mayoral Assistant Mark Bancroft, but residents should bring their own water containers. Same goes for the fire stations.

Trash pick up will resume Wednesday, said Bancroft butTuesday's route will be picked up Wednesday, "it's just like the holiday schedule, all the days are shifted," he said.

These roads are completely blocked at the following locations:
East side
17 Iron Street
80 Silas Deane
94 Rose Hill Road
Colonel Ledyard Highway at Lambtown
42 Church Hill Road
Lantern Hill Road at Long Pond
West side
14 and 29 Inchcliffe Drive
Route 12 at River Road
Stonybrook at North Glenwoods
North Glenwoods at Stonybrook
Military Highway at Browns Crossing
Military Highway at Maple Crossings (both roads)
23 Sandy Hollow Road
Sandy Hollow Road at Whalehead
1 Washington Drive

Roads not mentioned in this list are at least partially passable.

Original story, posted 5 a.m.:

Hurricane Sandy brought high winds and short periods of heavy rain through Ledyard Sunday and just when the storm died down, the river swelled with an unusually high tide. The accumulated damage caused power outages in more than half the town (67 percent on Sunday night, according to CL&P outage map) and flooding.

Town offices and facilities are closed again today but Town Hall will not be staffed or open for routine business but it will be open for charging cell phones and electronics. Ledyard Fire Department #1 and Gales Ferry Volunteer Fire Company are also open to residents who need to charge cell phones, said Sean McGucken, the director of emergency management.

Residents in the Highlands are still being asked to minimize flushing after the sewer treatment lost power and its back-up generator failed Monday, according to McGucken.

While it is hoped that it can be repaired early Tuesday, the Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to hook up a temporary generator sometime Tuesday. In the meantime, residents in the Highlands should minimize their water use so to avoid untreated water from draining into the brook, said McGucken.

The hurricane was predicted to cause massive damage and although that is certainly the case for our neighbors in Groton and Stonington, Ledyard made out ok by comparison and fared far better than last August after Tropical Storm Irene. McGucken said that storm downed around 70 utility lines and 20 transformers.

Several roads in Ledyard are closed or partially closed as a result of the high winds during Hurricane Sandy. Portions of North Glenwood Road, Inchcliffe Drive and Sandy Hollow Road are inaccessible due to trees and/or wires down on both ends.

As of 10 p.m. Monday, roads are closed or partially closed in these spots:

East side:

Pumpkin Hill Road between Deer and Wendell

Colonel Ledyard at Haley

311 Gallup Hill Road, partial

80 Silas Deane

155 Lambtown

77 Spicer Hill, partial

94 Road Hill Road

17 Iron Street

Colonel Ledyard at Applewood

415 Colonel Ledyard Highway

Route 214 at Route 117

Gallup Hill Road at Ledyard High School, partial

West side:

Aver Hill at Tuckers

77 Stoddards Warf, partial

14, 29 Inchcliffe Drive

44 Christy Hill, transformer hanging, wires

Multiple partial closures on Shewville Road, north of Gallup Hill Road

Military Highway and Maple’s Crossing, partial

Military Highway at Brown’s Crossing

23 Sandy Hollow

Sandy Hollow at Whalehead

Gales Ferry Road at Groton Town Line

Long Cove Road at Hyde Park

27 Vinegar Hill, passable but large branch on wire

190 Whalehead

23 Stoneybrook

Military at Mill Cove

Route 12 at River Road

Stoneybrook at North Glenwoods

North Glenwoods at Stoneybrook

1 Washington Drive

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