74°
HARTFORD, Conn. Connecticut Light & Power was not prepared to deal with the massive power outages that occured after the October nor'easter, says a report compiled by a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The report released Friday by Witt Associated said the "worst-case scenario" the utility had planned for enivisioned only 100,000 power outages. But more than 809,000 customers lost power after the snowstorm, according to Gov. Dannel Malloy's office.
Some Connecticut residents lost power for more than a week.
This was an unprecedented storm that caused real hardship for many of our residents, said Malloy. But if something good came out of it, its that its giving us the chance to put in place an unprecedented level of response should it be necessary in the future.
The report found, as the storm was approaching and officials began warning of widespread power outages, CL&P did not put enough power crews in place to quickly begin restoring electricity.
CL&P also knew it was making a false promise when it said all power would be restored in Connecticut on Nov. 6, more than a week after the storm. Power wasn't completely restored until Nov. 9.
The report also criticized state and local governments did not communicate well enough with each other during and after the storm.
We have plans in place at the state and municipal levels, but there isnt one, centralized master plan that shows how state government should interact amongst its own agencies, and how the state should coordinate its own activities with those of the utilities and municipal governments, Malloy said.
Malloy had also convened a Two Storm Panel to review and make recommendations on preparedness, respone and recovery to the October nor'easter and Hurricane Irene.
To download a copy of the Witt report, go to www.wittassociates.com.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
