Wilton Struggles With Post-October-Storm Cleanup

The cleanup after Alfred has been a messy one. It’s still going to take several more weeks to clear all of Wilton as the town is struggling to take away all the debris from the side of its roads: Advanced notices for street-clearing are not an option, some residents are dumping their road debris on other steets, and there will most likely be more outages as inclimate weather flows in.

No advance notice for street clearings

At last night's Board of Selectmen meeting, First Selectman William Brennan said that there were 16 Department of Public Works (DPW) employees and one crew of CL&P workers The team has four wood chippers, but one was down for maintenance on Monday.

Unexpected problems seem to be the main reason why the town won’t be issuing advanced will be cleared.

“Some residents have asked to three or four days” of notice that their street will be cleared, said Brennan.

“But some places take more time. It’s hard to predict, it’s hard to estimate. For example, the DPW may have to be diverted, for example, to fix a broken road rail. It’s turning out to be a very, very big project. We can’t be everywhere. I’m sorry. We wish we could be quicker, but please give these guys some slack,” said Brennan.

Expect more power outages, plan accordingly

“CL&P said the system is fragile after [these] two big storms,” said Brennan.

“We will have more outages. It is assured. We have to recognize that.”

Brennan said that some areas have been weakened due to things such as stretched wires—possibly due to branches hanging on the lines—and that another snow or wind storm would most likely take out power for some unlucky residents.

Residents would do well to plan accordingly and stock up on supplies for this coming winter.

Keep your debris to your street

“Some people have taken the debris and dumped it on other roads in town. Don’t do it. Police are [now] looking for it,” said Brennan.

On a more positive note, the Board believes “with reasonable assurance” that FEMA will pay up to 75-percent of the costs that Wilton has had to incur in post-storm cleanup and/or damages since a disaster area.