Malloy Urges Residents, Businesses, to Report Damage

At least 132 homes in Connecticut were destroyed or severely damaged by Tropical Storm Irene and at least 70 businesses have indicated to state officials that their operations sustained damage in the storm as well, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday.

In Montville, at least four homes were severely damaged, the building inspector's office said on Wednesday.

Malloy again urged residents and business owners to call the state’s information line, 2-1-1, to report storm damage to their properties. Doing so, he said, would help Connecticut in its effort to get the federal government to declare the state a disaster area, which would bring millions of dollars to Connecticut in disaster relief aid.

Malloy, during a daily briefing at the State Armory in Hartford, said officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are still canvassing the state and collecting information to determine if Connecticut deserves such a declaration.

Malloy urged residents and business owners to look beyond obvious signs of damage, such as a home’s roof hit by a tree, to other types of damages, such as to water or septic systems.

He also said the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development is “reaching out” to local chambers of commerce to see how their members are faring and how the storm has affected them.

Businesses in Fairfield and Litchfield counties affected by Irene might be eligible now for aid from the U.S. Small Business Administration because they border New York, which was declared a disaster area by President Obama on Wednesday. Under federal law, any financial aid that businesses in bordering counties in New York get access to under that disaster declaration are also available to businesses in the two Connecticut counties.

Asked whether he was satisfied with the power restoration job being undertaken by CL&P, Malloy said. “I’m not satisfied in the sense that we still have 210,000 customers without power.” He added, however, that CL&P’s progress “is in keeping with what was forecast last week.”

Malloy also said the University of Connecticut will play a football game Saturday at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, which has served as a staging area for emergency relief supplies for municipalities. The game was rescheduled from Thursday because of concerns that it would disrupt the distribution of supplies and the vehicles coming to the field to pick them up.

Malloy said that with most of CL&P’s customers projected to have power back by Saturday, there probably won’t be many people coming to the field for emergency rations that day.

Allowing the game to go forward, he added, would help return a sense of normalcy.

“I’m anxious to return our state back,” he said. “Returning to normalcy is important for some folks.”