Thousands of people along the shoreline lost power overnight when heavy, wet snow weighed down tree branches and power lines, taking some down.
As of 8 a.m. Sunday Eversource was reporting around 3,000 power outages, and 1,300 of those customers were in East Lyme. As of 11:30 a.m. that number had been reduced to 648 statewide and just 187 in East Lyme.
Weighed down by the wet and heavy snow the weather was too much for these wires. Across the southern end of town roads were closed as branches balanced on power lines and tore some right out of the poles.
And even after the snow stopped, flakes were still flying as the snow fell off the trees and wires. Chunks of ice making their way to the ground almost sounded like hail.
Jeff Van Deusen was dodging the falling ice and snow as he shoveled out his mailbox and driveway. He lives along Plants Dam Road which has been closed all morning long. He’s just a few homes away from where a tree fell across the roadway, and has been left leaning on some wires.
“I saw that when I was shoveling this morning and I thought ‘I’m surprised that we do have power.’ It’s pretty bad,” Van Deusen said.
Not only were the wires no match for Mother Nature, but the mix of freezing rain and snow that fell makes shoveling on a morning like this back-breaking work.
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Your Snow Photos Feb. 18, 2018
“It’s heavy and very wet and I thought it was just brush off the top of the car but it was frozen to the car. So, the sun will loosen it up now. I little bit of sun does a lot of good,” said East Lyme resident Frank Wilson.
Carriage Hill Drive is also closed, as it has been since about 3 a.m. with wires over the road.
An inspection team was on scene early Sunday morning, but there’s no word on when the situation might be fixed.
