08/30/11 THE ROADS ARE NOT CLEAR IN GREENWICH: CL&P And Out-Of-State Power Crews Can't Work On Power Lines In The Backcountry And Are On Standby

Backcountry residents who going into their third day without power after Tropical Storm Irene, are shocked to learn that out of town Connecticut Light And Power crews are parked on the side of the road in Greenwich waiting for town DPW and Tree crews to clear roads.

Many out of state crews are complained about waiting for direction from the utility on what do, because they can't get to there assigned power restoration tasks.

First Selectman Peter Tesei, who has criticized CL&P for not providing sufficient manpower for Greenwich, is not allowing the crews that are here, work in an efficient manner.

Instead of belly aching the First Selectman needs to get his emergency management coordinator out in the field to get roads clear. The town has had 36 hours to get the roads clear.

The priority for the First Selectman's needs to be opening the 30 or so roads that still remain closed.

The utility crews that can get through have been working with the town on a list of priorities.

They are restoring power to health care facilities running on generator power and re-energizing sewage pump stations and homes served by sewer pumps in areas where the gravity system doesn't work.

One the Town of Greenwich gets the roads clear, there will be 15 line crews and 15 tree crews from the town and utility dedicated to customer restoration.

Greenwich Emergency Management officials declined to comment further on reports that crews were waiting around for roads to be cleared.

A lot of this is similar to what we experienced after the March 2010 storm.

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