GUILFORD -- Nearly 50 roads in Guilford were impacted by downed trees or power lines from the latest nor’easter.
On Bonnie Briar Lane, a massive pine tree was uprooted, fell across the road, dragged down power lines and landed in the yard of a resident who was outside and nearly crushed by the tree, according to neighbors.
Then, on East Gate Lane, resident Drew Tucci wasn’t surprised by what happened.
“Rain turned to snow and then we started hearing thunder and lightning and then we went to bed and about 2 o’clock in the morning we heard a huge crack and that was this tree right here,” Tucci said, while taking a break from cutting up the tree with his chainsaw.
But, as a result of the storm, there is one noise that he doesn’t mind hearing and that is the hum of his generator.
“When we bought this house, we were very pleased that it had a house generator and we are certainly getting our moneys worth right now,” he said.
For those not so fortunate, Guilford’a community center was transformed into a warming center.
“We had four people taking showers so far,” said Rick Maynard, Director of Guilford Parks & Recreation. “You know we have two showers available to the public and then the lunch is here and if we need to be here for dinner then we will be.”
While some came to the community/warming center for lunch or dinner, others used it to recharge their mobile devices, including a man who said, while it could be days before he and his wife have their power back, they’re perfectly content sleeping at home.
“You know, if you think about it, 200 years ago this is the way people lived. They had to,” said Jeff Freeman, with a smile.
The First Selectman said Eversource has prioritized restoring service to three major circuits in Guilford.
“The top three that they identified this morning accounted for about 2,200 of over 5,700 outages that were reported early this morning,” said Guilford First Selectmen Matt Hoey.
He is among the residents without power, but said Eversource is working hard.
“They just can’t staff to have people ready to respond and get everybody back up and working within five hours. It’s just, the model doesn’t exist,” he said.
The warming center can also act as an emergency shelter. The fire department would provide the necessary amount of cots.
