Malloy: Out of State Response Disappointing

Hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents have had no power for three days, face the prospect of several more days in the dark and no one will give firm estimates on when power will be restored.

Gov. Dannel Malloy called the response from out of state disappointing.

"Our number one priority is getting power restored to people in the state of Connecticut," Malloy said during a news conference on Tuesday.

Fewer crews have been arriving in the state than promised, he said.

As of 12:30 p.m., just over 670,000 people still have no power.

William Bryan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, is in Connecticut and said he does not know how much the federal government can do to help, but they will do what they can.

Like Rita and Katrina was a one-two punch to the Southeast, "This is Connecticut's one-two-punch," Bryan said. "Only, it came in the form of a hurricane and a snowstorm."

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Saturation from Tropic Storm Irene and rain that came after, combined with an early snowstorm falling on trees that still held leaves caused a lot of uprooting, he said.

"New England has a lot of pretty trees. That's what makes New England New England," he said. "These trees, when they get weighed down, and the ground's saturated, they fall and they take down lines."

He warned that it will take a bit longer to restore power than it did during Irene.

Twenty-nine transmission lines were brought down and only 13 are back up, Bryan said. They can get up within a week, he said but is not sure about the timeline in Connecticut.

Before restoring power, crews have to be able to access the area enough to assess the damage, Bryan said. Crews have to clear debris to get a full assessment, but it cannot be cleared if lines are down.

He added that transmission lines have to be up and running before the distribution grid that feeds customers can be dealt with, Bryan said.

Katie Blint, a spokeswoman for CL&P, said 570 crews from other companies were helping the utility's 200 regular crews Tuesday, and the total number of crews was expected to hit 1,200 by the end of the week. But some customers, she said, might not see their power back until next week.

"We've had to go to as many as 15 states to request crews," Blint said. "We certainly understand the hardship this is causing and we're doing our best out there."

CL&P posted restoration estimates for 50 towns in eastern and southwestern Connecticut. For some towns, such as Chaplin and Mansfield, the power company said it doesn't expect to have electricity restored until Sunday. CL&P said it hoped to have estimates for all towns, including the areas hardest hit, by Wednesday.

Malloy said 6,000 people are headed to the region to remove trees and debris and restore power. How many are heading to Connecticut is not clear.

Here is the CL&P restoration estimates list: