Final Hurricane Update from First Selectman Tom Frenaye

Suffield Hurricane Update - 8/28/11

Very heavy rain overnight Saturday and early Sunday morning was the worst Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene had to offer for Suffield. Winds did not reach the high levels originally in the forecast, topping out at about 45 mph, as Irene took a track about 40 miles west of where it was expected to travel. Even so, there was flooding and some large trees came down on roads and a few buildings.

Suffield's emergency services and Highway Department all handled the incoming problem reports quickly, and having few cars on the road was very helpful.

The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at Town Hall started to phase down around lunch time on Sunday. We had seven residents use the shelter facilities at Suffield High School during the peak of the storm. More than a dozen volunteers provided assistance at both the EOC and shelter.

Connecticut Light & Power says there are about 450 customers in Suffield without power, and there is no estimate of when power will be restored as of Sunday evening. This impacts residents on Mapleton Avenue, South Stone Street and Ratley Road.

Compared to the other towns served by CL&P, Suffield had the second lowest percentage of customers who lost power. A current map of outages can be reviewed at:

http://www.cl-p.com/outage/OutageMap.aspx

Thanks to everyone for working hard to keep the town safe.

Tom Frenaye

First Selectman

860-668-3838