BERLIN, Conn. (August 6, 2012) – Prior to the evening commute, CL&P has completed repair work on both transmission lines in Greenwich, and restored power to a substation that feeds railway service. Crews are continuing their efforts to restore electricity to the remaining 4,000 customers affected by the tree that fell on the transmission lines during Sunday night’s thunderstorms.
"As the situation evolved throughout the day, we worked closely with Greenwich and MetroNorth officials, and are pleased we were able to bring the rail service back before the evening commute," said Ken Bowes, Vice President of Operations in CL&P's Emergency Operation Center. "Our efforts are on schedule and we expect to restore the outages by 8 p.m. this evening."
Any customer who remains without power after 8 p.m. should report their power outage to CL&P at (800) 286-2000.
At about 1 p.m., an 85-foot, black locust tree was removed from the high-voltage transmission lines near Summit Road by a 24-ton crane. About an hour later, the transmission line and Cos Cob substation that feeds the MetroNorth electric supply were restored to service. In addition, all critical customers, including Greenwich Hospital, were restored as of 3 p.m.
A total of roughly 28,000 Greenwich customers lost power when a tree resting on the high-voltage lines shifted this morning and caused an unplanned outage. Initially, CL&P had planned to do stabilize the tree and perform the repair work after 9 p.m. to minimize inconvenience to customers.
Working closely with town, state and railroad officials, CL&P used a 92-foot crane to remove the tree from the line and repair damage. Trees are the number one cause of power outages and CL&P has an integrated vegetation management program in place to help keep trees and branches away from power lines. The tree that caused today’s outage was located on private property and not in a utility right-of-way.