As of 1:00 p.m. today, Eversource has increased manpower in Wilton. Progress continues on road clearing, particularly “make safe” clearing. Approximately 9% of Wilton Eversource customers, who were previously without power, have had their power restored. Tonight and tomorrow, we expect significantly more power restoration.
Status of Eversource Crews:
- We still don’t have a count for the number of crews working in Wilton, but Chief Lynch, Captain Conlan and other police personnel surveying the roads, reported a noticeable uptick this morning.
- 36 additional tree and 89 additional line crews were dispatched to serve Wilton, Weston and Westport.
- DPW and Eversource “make safe” crews have been and will again be working round-the-clock.
- Eversource crew members are working 16-hour shifts. Some of you have emailed about seeing crews in parking lots. Parking lots are being used for crews to rest or take their legally required breaks and as staging areas for shift turnover or new arrivals. Wilton crews generally eat their meals at Orem's.
Power Restoration:
- Work continues on main supply points throughout Wilton and those in neighboring towns which supply power to Wilton.
- Main supply points are critical network components. They feed the power lines that go to your street and the line to your home.
- Work is also occurring on feeder lines in preparation for when the main supply points are energized. This is why completed work on your street may not immediately result in power restoration or why you lack power, even though there isn’t damage on your street.
- On occasion, power in another area must be temporarily shut down in order to energize another area.
Downed Wires:
- Please stay away from downed wires.
- If you must pass over a wire, do so in a vehicle. Do not walk over a wire.
- Wires can be suddenly energized. When that occurs, they move.
Cable and Cellular Service: Both AT&T and Verizon are working town. This morning, both were at the cell tower off Deer Run. As reported last night, new Verizon cell equipment was installed in Wilton Center. We were told it was temporary, but it looks permanent to us. It is certainly needed, so we are seeking clarification.
Earlier today, I was in contact with an official from Altice (Optimum). The vast majority of their outages are due to Eversource power outages. Their central network is on a generator, so service can come online as soon customers are energized. I requested and she provided a message for residents, which is posted below.
Water: Potable water distribution capabilities at Fire Headquarters have increased. Distribution of is now from the non-Town Hall side of the building. Water is available 24/7.
WiFi/Internet: In addition to sign-up access, we opened an additional area within Comstock to accommodate walk-ins for WiFi and Internet use. There is sign-up availability for this weekend. Please see details below. Outdoor WiFi access is available at the back of Town Hall, at WHS and at Comstock. WiFi at Miller Driscoll is less reliable. No WiFi at Middlebrook and Cider Mill as there isn’t power. The password for all buildings is Warrior1.
August 11th Primary: If there is a need to move a polling location due to a power outage, it will be announced on Monday. Absentee ballots must be returned no later than 8:00 p.m. on August 11th. Ballots can be placed in the secure ballot box located outside Police Headquarters.
Another update will be provided this evening. If you wish to contact me please email at lynne.vanderslice@wiltonct.org. Thank you for your patience.
Comstock WiFi Access and Charging Stations:
- Weeknights open from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
- Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Sign-up via e-Trak or by calling (weekdays) or visiting Comstock if you can’t access e-Trak.
- Walk-ins are allowed, if space is available.
- You must wear a mask and complete a contact form.
- Bring your device and extension cords.
- Socially distant tables and chairs provided.
- Staff will be onsite
- No bathrooms.
- No air conditioning
Message from Altice:
In Connecticut (as of 8 am 8/8), 23% of our customers are currently offline, with the vast majority of the service-related issues being caused by loss of commercial power. To the extent that there are impacts on our plant due to the storm, we need to ensure the situations are safe (no live electrical wires) prior to proceeding with repairs.
Our central network has back up power and generators to ensure that we can provide service as soon as commercial power is restored to individual customer homes and our more local network. In instances where power is restored but service is still impacted, it is likely that our network was damaged such as at the individual home level or the node/neighborhood level. We are working as fast as we can to identify root causes of any service outages and restore services if an outage not related to loss of commercial power.
We encourage our customers to contact us via social media (Twitter and Facebook) to advise of any individual service issues as we are actively monitoring those channels. In addition, to alleviate long hold times to reach care agents via phone, customers can use the message function on Optimum.net. to chat with a live agent and identify service issues.
Given the extent of the storm’s impact on service across the region, we have opened the Optimum WiFi network to customers and non-customers during this emergency situation and nearly 93% of our WiFi hotspots are online.
Here is the hotspot link: https://www.optimum.com/outage