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In the wake of Tropical Storm Henri leaving thousands without power in Connecticut and Massachusetts, the utility company announced that it is working with town officials to expand efforts to identify and proactively address areas that have been problematic during recent storms.
On Wednesday, Aug. 25, two days after the storm, Eversource was still reporting multiple outages impacting nearly 300 of the company’s 1.28 million customers.
“As part of its continuing efforts to improve storm response and enhance the safety of all the communities it serves, Eversource is launching a new effort to address the state’s significant tree issues in partnership with municipalities following storm events,” officials stated.
As part of the outreach effort, Eversource reached out to the 16 communities that were hit hardest by Tropical Storm Henri to survey trees near electric lines and equipment so they can remove hazardous trees and limbs before they cause future outages.
Leaders are now part of the effort in the Connecticut communities of Burlington, Canterbury, East Haddam, Glastonbury, Griswold, Guilford, Kent, Killingly, Meriden, New Britain, Old Lyme, North Stonington, Old Saybrook, Pomfret, Voluntown, and Woodstock.
“As we saw with Henri, trees continue to be the number one cause of electrical outages for our customers – in addition to causing property damage and public safety issues like blocked roads,” Eversource Vegetation Management Manager Sean Redding stated.
“A single tree-related outage can have a compounding effect, including broken poles, downed trees and/or wires, a broken transformer or crossarm,” he continued. “These outages can impact critical facilities like hospitals, police and fire stations and are labor-intensive and time-consuming to restore.”
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