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State officials working on disaster declaration following severe storms

BROOKFIELD — Tuesday’s fatal storm resulted in closed roads, closed schools  in towns like Brookfield. In a press conference in Brookfield shortly a...

BROOKFIELD — Tuesday’s fatal storm resulted in closed roads, closed schools  in towns like Brookfield.

In a press conference in Brookfield shortly after noon, Gov. Dan Malloy said that state and local crews were working to clear roads throughout the affected area. Utilty crews from Massachusetts and New Hampshire were being called in to help restore power.

Malloy said, “Everything that was easy has been brought back.” He said other areas would take some time.

Connecticut Water and Heritage Village Water have opened a free potable water station at Heritage Village in Southbury. The water station is located at Community House Park, 200 Community House Road, Southbury (near Route 67). This is a free service provided to the community.

State officials are working on submitting a request for a natural disaster declaration.

Residents in Brookfield have a lot of work to do following Tuesday’s storm. This community was one of the town’s hit hardest by the storm.

“It came in fast, and went out fast, and the damage was done,” says Richard Sweet of Brookfield.

Sweet says Tuesday’s storm was the worst he has ever seen.

“I was up all night, I couldn’t sleep, my adrenaline was going so much,” said Sweet. “I have never seen anything like it, and I was caught in some bad storms, especially on Candlewood Lake, and this… nothing touches this, it’s bad.”

His home was unscathed, his neighbor however, though she was not hurt, her home was severely damaged.

“My neighbors house is pretty bad, all of her trees are down,” said Sweet. “It’s bad.”

Within a matter of 15 minutest this storm barreled through Brookfield, and left most people without power. The First Selectman also says just about everyone saw some extent of damage.

“We have literally thousands of trees down,” said Brookfield First Selectman, Steve Dunn. “Almost every single road has downed power lines.”

The storm happened so quickly, Sweet said he barely had time to process what happened.

“It was so fast, and then the winds just picked up, and I didn’t even really hear the trees break because the wind was so loud,” said Sweet.

Now, there are more than 160 personnel from 20 different departments stepping up to help. Officials say accessibility has been a major challenge, and they have had to use ATVs to get to certain parts of town. Call for help was also at an all time high.

“One of the biggest challenges we faced was the call volume, the 911 system was jus totally overloaded,” said Chief of Brookfield Police, Jay Purcell. “Hundreds and hundreds of calls.”

Police say one woman suffered broken bones, and lacerations from flying tree branches, thankfully no other serious injuries were reported overnight.

“Right now we ask people, if you don’t have to move in town, don’t move in town,” said Chief Purcell.

Clearing roadways is the first priority, once that is completed officials will work on restoring power. The First Selectman says residents should expect to be without power for several days. In the meantime, the high school will be open as a shelter.

Here’s the latest:

Eversource restoration times

Eversource outages: 78,255 

United Illuminating outages:  4,079

Metro-North have cancelled some trains between New Haven and New York. Check here for updates.

Download the FOX61 app for all the latest updates. 

Check here for school closings and delays. 

Check here for any delayed or cancelled flights out of Bradley.

Check here for any traffic delays.

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Brookfield has declared a State of Emergency.

New Milford and Southbury has declared a State of Emergency.

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