Two Avon Roads with Downed Wires and Trees Remain Closed Post-Storm

Thursday's storm may be over, but the damage in Avon is not.

"We're still cleaning trees up today and the next few days," Paul Welsh, Avon Public Works highway foreman, said Friday morning, noting that about a dozen people called the department to report fallen trees.

Homeowners are responsible for clearing fallen trees from their property, but Public Works staff members will do cleanup on town roads, land and rideaways. They also provide traffic control.

According to Connecticut Light and Power, 96 Avon homes still did not have have power, as of 10:30 p.m., in comparison to 941 around 7 p.m. Thursday night.

Avonside and Pine Trail roads are still closed due to downed power lines and trees, according to Avon Fire Marshal James W. DiPace. Pine Trail is closed by the intersection with Hillcrest Drive, and a homeowner on the street reported "a car underneath one of the trees," he said. The tree is still on top of the car as the Kibler family that owns it negotiates with their insurance agent.

An SNET telephone pole on Avonside Road was knocked over in the storm and is hanging suspended by the powerline. There is a downed wire near the entrance of the road where it intersects with Country Club Road, and there are several tree brambles on the street. Homeowners have had to park their cars on side street, Welsh said. One woman even had her friend pick her up for work Friday morning because she couldn't drive out of her street.

"Some people were returning from work [last night], and could never go down the street," Welsh said, since the road closed around 5 p.m.

A homeowner on Avonside noticed that his appliances were smoking slightly Friday morning when his power generater turned on. The rest of the street is powerless.

Country Club Road was closed for an hour Thursday, but is open, though there are fallen tree branches beside the road on the Golf Club of Avon lawn.

There is also a power line down on Wellington Heights Road, which CL&P worked on late morning. Climax Road was closed until 2 a.m. Friday, and the Avon Volunteer Fire Department was on-scene until 11:45 p.m. on Thursday.

The fire department responded to 19 weather-related calls last night, he said, including a call from a resident at 86 Climax Road reporting sparks in the home.

"The fire department was not able to find problems with the house, which was still energized," DiPace said. "The power company disconnected the house's [power] from the street."

Lightning struck a home at 6 Yorkshire Lane, causing minor damage to the side of the home, but no fire.

Talcott Mountain Academy of Science, Technology and Mathematics was the only school in Avon closed, as wires had dropped close to the ground.

A fire alarm went off at Avon High School at around 7 p.m. Thursday during an event, so the building was evacuated, but DiPace said that he could not confirm whether the call was weather-related, though it was soon after the storm died down.

The power company is assessing the damage in towns statewide and while power has been restored to 146,000 across Connecticut, as of 10:41 p.m., CL&P tweeted that it will take several days to fully restore power to the remaining 28,000 clients.