Morning Storm Update: Town Shelter Open, 95 Percent of Town Without Power

The vast majority of Suffield is without power due to Winter Storm Alfred and may stay that way for the immediate future.

About 95 percent of residents, 5743 of Suffield's 5996 Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) customers, are without power. The town shelter at on Sheldon Street is open.

First Selectman Tom Frenaye urged residents to be cautious and stay safe as town and state workers try to clear snow and debris from roads in town in a storm update sent out at 1 a.m. Sunday.

"Residents are urged to stay off the roads until state and town crews are able to clear the snow," he said. "CL&P's priority on Sunday will be to remove trees from power lines and open up blocked roads. Power restoration will be secondary."

Suffield residents should, as Governor Dannel P. Malloy said to state residents in general, expect to be without power “.”

Call ahead before travelling to any destination, in or out of town. While some businesses are open, power is out for the majority of Suffield and surrounding towns.

"It will likely be several days before power is restored," Frenaye said.

He also passed along the following message from CL&P.

"Stay away from downed power lines. Keep your distance from any downed power line, and report it to the police (860-668-3870) or fire (860-668-3888) departments. Treat all wires – even those that are hanging or downed – as if they are "live" (energized). Don't drive over downed lines, and if a downed line is in or near water, keep your distance from the water, even a little puddle. And whether a power line is down or not, don't touch anything that might be in contact with it, such as a tree limb."

Do you have pictures or video of the storm you want to share with other Suffield Patch readers? You can also send them to perry.robbin@patch.com.