The lights are back on for the town of Ledyard.
Sunday night the storm left 81 percent of residents in the dark, according to Eversource.
Now people who live in town fear what will happen if a bigger storm hits.
Tree limbs and branches coat Stanley Purwinis’ yard. So do downed wires.
“It’s as bad as a hurricane,” Purwinis said.
He’s lived in his Overlook Road home for 55 years. It’s motivation for the 95-year-old to get dirt on his hands and clean up the damage. He’s not pleased with Eversource.
“On a scale of one to 10, I’d give them a four,” Purwinis said.
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He spent four days without power, getting it back Thursday afternoon.
“The neighborhood was humming with generators. I’m the only guy without one,” Purwinis said. “So I spent the time at my son’s house in Preston.”
Over on Town Farm Road, wires were no longer on the ground. But still very low hanging. Until Wednesday, they completely blocked Keighla Lyons’ driveway.
“We were worried about my brother too, walking around. We didn’t want him to get too close to the powerlines because we didn’t know if they were live or not because no one ever came at all to check,” Lyons said.
Her family was trapped on their property. Her stepdad had to miss three days of work.
Ledyard Mayor Fred Allyn III said Eversource’s technology failed customers, sending them multiple false emails and texts.
“We had a resident where they said, ‘Congratulations power is restored,’ and the power lines were in their front yard,” Allyn said.
An Eversource spokesman confirmed the problem. But also said the team sat down with the mayor Tuesday to discuss his concerns.
The mayor is worried about what damage a stronger storm could do.
But for now, people like Purwinis are just happy to be almost back to normal
“Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home,” Purwinis said.
Allyn said he is grateful for the line and tree crews for their work — many came in from out of town. But he is planning on submitting a formal letter to Eversource to identify what the town saw as failures and what he thinks the company can improve upon.
Trick-or-treaters were out on the town Friday night since town Halloween festivities were postponed until then.
