Police in Old Saybrook opened a resource center for residents on Thursday who remain without both power and water after a powerful nor'easter pummeled the state and knocked out electricity.
Carol Cretella is one of the thousands of people who lost power Wednesday night during the storm. She said she is one of many Old Saybrook residents who rely on private wells to supply water and who are unable to pump water without electricity.
"You can only use it for just a few flushes," Cretella said.
Eversource spokesperson Frank Poirot said the restoration effort is expected to take several days.
"It's been a challenging situation for us," Poirot said and added the multitude of downed trees is causing a problem for power lines and blocking roads their crews need to deploy throughout the state.
Old Saybrook police anticipated enough need in town to open a resource center where residents can fill buckets with clean water. The center opened at just after noon on Thursday at the Old Saybrook Senior High School and is replete with free wi-fi, charging stations, hot showers and warm meals.
Resident Fred Spadaccini stopped by to refill jugs with water after his prepared supply ran low. He said the department's effort to take care of residents is helpful.
Local
"At least you have water for washing dishes and flushing toilets- the important stuff," Spadaccini said.
As of Wednesday evening, there are still over 1,400 Eversource customers without service according to the Eversource outage map.
Cretella is hopeful her electricity will be restored soon, although she is no stranger to an outage. Over the last fifteen years, Cretella said, "I've lost power 122 times. I'm counting."
