Kitemaug Road Repairs Finished in the Nick of Time

Trees are down on Kitemaug Road, and Connecticut Light & Power will not address the issue until Monday, Fire Marshal Ray Occhialini said this afternoon.

That's the bad news. Here's the good news: The work on the bridge on Kitemaug was completed, for the most part, on Saturday, and so drivers can now use that section of the road.

Until the power is shut off and the fallen trees are cleared, there will still be a detour on Kitemaug, Occhialini said, but now the detour is in the opposite direction.

The wind was blowing like crazy this afternoon, and is expected to continue into the night, Occhialini said, but Hurricane Irene is moving past our region.

Montville Public Works staffers armed with saws are out in plow trucks, cutting and clearing the fallen trees that are not involved with electical wires.

Nearly 90 percent of Montville is without power, according to CL&P. On a live radio broadcast, a CL&P representative said that this storm broke the company's outage record of 477,000, set during Hurricane Gloria. So far during Hurricane Irene, 565,000 homes in Connecticut are without power.

Occhialini cautioned everyone to stay away from downed wires. Though the power appears to be out in many places in town, the smart thing to do is to treat all downed wires as though they are live, Occhialini said.

The town's Emergency Operations Center will remain open today, as will the shelter at Montville High School.

If you go to the shelter, you will want to bring:

• Bedding (for sleeping)
• Towels (for showers)
• Personal care items
• Snacks
• Medications
• Games to keep children busy

Occhialini said the shelter will stay open until power is restored in town.

About 35 people took advantage of the shelter Sunday night, enjoying warm, clean beds; electricity;  food and beverages; showers and running water.

Occhialini said that the town can not provide rides to people at this time; there are just not enough people to provide that service.

Mayor Joe Jaskiewicz declared a state of emergency this morning, which will continue until tomorrow, Occhialini said. With no streetlights tonight, driving is going to continue to be dangerous, even if the wind diminshes.

Montville Police Lt. Leonard Bunnell said that, because the roads were so impassable during the storm, officers were stationed in the fire houses, and responded to calls from there.