Groton Roads Closed Due to Fallen Trees, Power Lines

Groton reported roads closed across town due to fallen trees and downed power lines - including one tree on a house - and the 240 people had sought refuge in the Red Cross Shelter at Fitch High School Monday night.

Shelter residents included 50 families.

Fitch High School lost power and was on a generator, which meant some lights worked and others didn’t, and some outlets worked while others didn’t. But Shelter Manger Julie Gagne said people were taking it well.

“They’ve absolutely handling everything wonderfully,” she said. The shelter was expected to remain open until Thursday depending on the length of the storm, she said.

Groton Emergency Mangement Director Joseph Sastre said wind was starting to die down, but Connecticut Light and Power crews could not get up in bucket trucks to work on lines, and were dealing primarily with 911 calls about lines on the ground and sparks flying.

CL&P reported 4,770 customers without power in Groton as of 9 p.m. Groton Utilities reported as of 5 p.m. that "large portions" of its service area were without power, according to its website.

The following roads were closed Monday due to downed trees and power lines:

• Daniel Brown Drive

• Flanders Road at Route 1

• Ridgewood Drive (tree on a house and wires down)

• Gungywamp Road

• Laurelwood Road

• Gales Ferry Road

• Quakertown Road

• Noank Ledyard Road

Since power crews couldn’t get into buckets due to winds, Sastre said it was difficult for them to assess the damage.

“It’s probably going to be a substantial outage for folks," Sastre said.

Wind gusts in Groton reached over 75 mph by Monday afternoon.

“The wind is starting to die down," Sastre said Monday evening. "And it will continue to die down through the evening until the meeting. The bad news is high tide is still coming in.”

Areas flooded earlier Monday remained flooded: parts of Mystic, Groton Long Point, the Poquonnock River, South Road and Thomas Road.  The town put out another broadcast at about 4:30 p.m. encouraging people to heed evacuation orders if they hadn’t already.

Sastre said no rescues were needed, but crews helped a handful of people with mobility problems get out of their houses and to the shelter. He said he wasn't aware of any injuries as a result of the storm.

Sastre said the wind blew down the Big Green Wall in Mystic.

“Everybody wanted the wall to come down. Well, it’s down," he said. "The wind was substantial this afternoon.”

Schools and town offices remained closed Tuesday.

Naval Submarine Base New London was closed to all but essential personnel at noon Monday but was expected to reopen Tuesday. The base said it would alert personnel of activities through the media, facebook and through the base phone line at (860) 694-4444.

Sastre said the morning would bring a new look at things.

“The wind will be going down as the tide’s coming up,” he said. “We’ll see what everything looks like when the sun comes up.”