Traffic To Your Website | Evening Statement From The New Canaan Office Of Emergency Management

Sunday, 28 August 2011 20:02

7 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 28 " The following is a statement from the New Canaan Office of Emergency Management.

First Selectman Jeb Walker and the emergency management team continue to monitor storm conditions. Hurricane Irene has been downgraded to tropical storm status and has moved into northern New England. Windy conditions are predicted to diminish throughout the evening.

Follow the Advertiser's Twitter updates of Hurricane Irene

For updates from the Office of Emergency Management's Facebook page, click here.

As of 7 p.m., First Selectman Jeb Walker has authorized the lifting of the curfew. However, residents are warned that there are numerous locations throughout town with power lines down on the ground. Town crews have attempted to mark these locations with barriers and/or caution tape, however not all may be known and may be unmarked. All wires must be considered live and must be given a wide berth.

Taking full advantage of the lull in the storm, Town crews have started clearing roads where power lines are not involved and CLP has crews beginning to assess the situation.

Some traffic lights are still without power and not enough temporary stop signs are available. These intersections must be treated as all-way stops.

Starting tomorrow morning (Monday) at 9 a.m., the YMCA will open to all residents for showers and charging of cell phones, etc. Also, the New Canaan Library will be open tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. and plans to have extended hours for the next few days. Please check the respective websites for further details.

Town Hall will be closed on Monday and public schools and Saint A's have canceled for Tuesday.

Due to the multiple road closures, the response of emergency services will be delayed to some areas of town.

Currently, CLP is reporting 77% of New Canaan to be without power and over 700,000 without power throughout the state.

If you have lost power, please contact Northeast Utilities to report the outage at 1-800-286-2000 or you can go on-line to www.cl-p.com.

For storm related, non-emergency questions, please call the Emergency Operations Center at 203-594-4100. This number should also be used for residents to report any structural damage to their homes. 911 should be used for emergency calls only.

The following is a list of safety tips to help get through the next few days:

Stay away from downed trees, as live power lines may be involved. Metal fences and guardrails may also become energized.

Avoid using candles if you lose power. If you must, never leave them unattended and keep them away from combustibles.

If you have a portable generator, make sure it is outside and if you are back-feeding your home through an outlet, make sure that you turn off the main breaker to avoid back-feeding the street, thereby endangering workers trying to restore power.

If the service wire on the side of your house been pulled off by downed branches/trees, it is the homeowner's responsibility to hire an electrician to make that repair. CLP will not reconnect until repairs are made.

It is expected that it will be several days before some roads are cleared and as long as a week before full power is fully restored. Residents are requested to check on neighbors.

Use the following sources for additional information:

Town website at www.newcanaan.info

Channel 79, the Town's cable access channel

WICC 600 am

WNLK 1350 am

On facebook at www.newcanaanoem.com

PPC | PPC Hero Celebrates National Race Your Office Chair Day

Backlinks | Backlink Services In Miami Florida | BackLinkGuys.net

Traffic To Your Website | Irene Pummels New York, Takes Aim At New England

(RNN) - Hurricane Irene battered Long Beach, NY, picking up the lifeguard headquarters building, slamming it into the boardwalk as the storm moved through at high tide. The storm surge caused ocean waters to flow over land and into bays behind the barrier island.

The East River in lower Manhattan topped its banks shortly after 8 a.m. There is widespread water damage throughout the city, and lots of trees are down. However - showing the resilience New Yorkers are famous for - mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference Sunday that the New York Stock Exchange will open as usual on Monday.

Bloomberg also lifted the evacuation order for low-lying areas of New York as of 3 p.m. ET.

The hurricane made a second landfall in New Jersey on early Sunday morning as the storm keeps making its way northward, leaving 15 dead in six states.

Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm after taking a swipe at New York City. As of the 2 p.m. ET advisory, it was packing 60 mph winds, moving at about 26 mph. This "faster forward speed" will continue for the next 24 hours or so.

According to CNN, the storm was weakened when it hit North Carolina.

"It never got its eye back. It never got its mojo back," CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.

A tropical storm warning is in effect from Chincoteague, VA, to Sagamore Beach, MA. All warnings have been discontinued along the Atlantic coast south of Chincoteague and for Chesapeake Bay south of North Beach, the National Hurricane Center reported.

Tropical storm force winds extend up to 320 miles from the center of the storm.

The National Hurricane center said the eye of Hurricane Irene made landfall near Little Egg Inlet at 5:35 a.m. The storm previously made landfall at Cape Lookout in North Carolina on Saturday.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on the NBC's Today that there are 15,000 people in 45 shelters across the state, and urged people not to go out because of the flooding.

"If you have power, please stay in your home. Do not go out," said Christie.

Christie also said that preliminary damage wasn't as bad as they expected, but they are dealing with "record flooding" and water damage. There are a half-million people without power.

A North Carolina man is missing after he either fell or jumped into the Cape Fear River and New Hanover County, NC, WECT-TV reported.

Milton Robinson, 27, has been missing since about 12:30 a.m. Saturday when three men reported he jumped into the river at a boat ramp.

The storm has been blamed on at least three deaths in Virginia, WWBT-TV reported.

[ SLIDESHOW: Irene advances ]

A boy, 11, and an adult male died Saturday when trees fell on their residences.

James Blackwell, 67, was killed when a tree fell on the car he was riding in. Virginia State Police troopers have responded to more than 150 traffic crashes, and at least 80 disabled vehicles.

The eye of the hurricane passed within 50 miles of Ocean City, MD, early Sunday morning. According to the city's website, officials are currently assessing the damage and no injuries have been reported.

CNN reports that currently 3 million people are without power as a result of Hurricane Irene.

About 281,014 people are without power in New Jersey.

In Connecticut, where Irene is headed, nearly 228,000 customers are without power. Connecticut Light Power reported more than 140,000 power outages early Sunday. United Illuminating was reporting more than 17,000 outages.

The Calvert Cliffs nuclear power facility in Lusby, MD, remains at 100 percent power on both units according to the Constellation Energy's website. One of the nuclear reactors automatically went offline when it was hit by a piece of aluminum siding during the storm. The reactor remains at its lowest alert level.

Dominion Power says that Irene has caused more than 700,000 outages in Virginia and North Carolina, according to their website.

In Hoboken, NJ, driving is prohibited as streets flood throughout the city. According to the city's website, high tide will occur around 8:15 a.m. EST, which is expected to exacerbate the flooding.

In total, more than 2.5 million people were evacuated all along the East Coast.

[ Click here to view a satellite image of the storm ]

The Virginia Department of Transportation states on the state's emergency management website that crews will begin clean up as soon as sustained winds are below 39 mph. Many tunnels and bridges to Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach are expected to remain closed until flooding subsides and debris is cleared. That could be as late as 9 p.m. Sunday in some cases.

"Motorists are strongly encouraged to suspend travel overnight, if possible, until conditions improve," the website reads.

The North Carolina Emergency Management said on their Twitter feed that overnight shelters served approximately 460,000 people.

FEMA has deployed Virginia Task Force 1, Fairfax County's urban search and rescue team, to Fort Bragg, NC. VATF-1 was deployed to Japan to help with the aftermath of their earthquake, as well as helped in search and recovery at the Pentagon during the 9/11 attacks. The task force is in Fayetteville, NC, waiting to be mobilized if needed.

Bloomberg: Edge of the hurricane is upon us

Irene claims first lives, weakens slightly

Irene loses steam as it pushes toward East Coast

'Historic' Irene stalks 65 million

Irene: Downgraded, still massive

PPC | PPC Hero Celebrates National Race Your Office Chair Day

Backlinks | Squidoo Lenses - Part 3 Of The Link Building Guide 101

SEO | Website Web Site Design & SEO St. Lucie County, FL