Power Returns For Most In Stratford After Days In The Dark

STRATFORD, CT — Many Stratford residents who experienced days-long outages after Tropical Storm Isaias saw service return Friday, three days after Tuesday’s storm.

As of about 4 a.m. Saturday, 1,736 of the United Illuminating Co. customers in Stratford — or 7 percent — were without power, according to the company. The amount of customers experiencing an outage hoovered around 40 percent throughout the week and at one point was as high as 68 percent. UI projected full restoration of power Saturday in town.

“While I am pleased that progress has been made since last evening in power restoration, I remain very disappointed in the slowness of UI to fully restore power, as 18% of Stratford customers are entering their fourth day without power,” Mayor Laura Hoydick said in a Facebook post Friday morning.

On Thursday, Hoydick referred to the company’s restoration timeline as “unacceptable” and said she supported Gov. Ned Lamont’s call for a regulatory investigation of UI’s storm preparation and response.

In addition to the widespread outages, the tropical storm was estimated to have blocked more than 100 roads in Stratford. The high winds also caused downed trees, and damaged cars and houses.