MERIDEN, Conn. — It wasn’t the Christmas morning many had in mind. Thousands woke up in the dark and others with flooding in their homes.
"There was a gush of water in the basement," said Nancy Bencosme.
The water in Bencosme's basement was about ankle high around 3 am Christmas morning. She and her boyfriend worked to stop the flooding up until the power went out.
"The sump pump went out and we’ve been dealing with flooding all day," said Bencosme.
The mixture of warm temperatures, rapid snowmelt, and a few inches of rain led to the flooded mess in the yard and home. Power was restored around noon, but some water remains.
"I wanted to have the Christmas tree on, make some breakfast and enjoy the day but finally the power came back on and the first thing I did was light up the Christmas tree to least have some Christmas spirit in the house," said Bencosme.
Some neighborhoods remain dark in the Western part of the state. Woodbury was hit hard with over 40% of the town without power at one point.
Eversource pulled crews from as far as New Hampshire to help restore power. A vast majority of the 56,000 who went dark will have their power restored by midnight Friday, but some others will have to wait until Saturday.
“We know the timing of this storm couldn’t have been worse as people are trying to celebrate the Christmas holiday," said Eversource President and CEO Jim Judge. "I want to thank the extraordinary efforts of our lineworkers and team members who are out in the weather today, away from their families on Christmas.”