“My wife’s car is totaled, both of my neighbor’s cars are totaled,” explained Ron Annatone, looking around Appletree Lane in North Haven, where few homes were spared from tornado damage.
“I have days and days’ worth of branches. I’m too old for this,” he chuckled as he showed NBC Connecticut the tree limb through is shed and branches across his back yard.
“We could not get out of our front door, no,” said Annatone’s neighbor Martha Maresca. That tree limb also crumpled both cars in her driveway.
It may have been one of the hardest-hit areas. Trees wrapped up in power lines blocked their road for more than a day. Their power didn’t return until Sunday afternoon.
There are six poles on the street and four of them snapped when the tornado hit. Neighbors say two transformers fell to the ground, and environmental crews were on the street over the last few days to pull up the ground that was contaminated from the oil.
“Almost everyone had generators,” said Annatone.
With all of that, what could be a frustrating time is made better by helping hands right next door.
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“Nothing like a storm to bring your community together,” said Barbara Kowal, who just returned from collecting frozen foods she stored at a friend’s house.
“Everybody just pulled together and made sure everybody had what they needed,” said Maresca.
On this tightknit little street they’re supporting each other as they have for decades and finding ways to make sure they get through this together.
“Friday night with no power, I asked everybody to come over to the backyard with their masks, and we had a few cocktails together and a few laughs and it kind of relieved a little stress for everybody here,” said Kevin Regan.
“Stuff like this happens,” said Maresca. “And in the grand scheme of things, nobody got hurt. That’s amazing.”
