Snowfall of about 36 Inches of the White Stuff in As Many Hours
Bulletins from Southington Town Hall and the State Capitol.
By E. Richard Fortunato
What a whopper of a snowstorm! Blizzard Charlotte has broken all records in Southington and many other parts of Connecticut and other northeastern states. Notwithstanding an enhanced state of readiness by the State of Connecticut and the Town of Southington, Blizzard Charlotte has exceeded most expectations in coming down down so heavily, so fast and with a record-breaking snowfall between Friday and Saturday. Scott Haney of WFSB Channel 3 in Hartford just stated that weather forecasters and record-keepers are saying that Charlotte has been the biggest snowfall since 1905. "I have never seen anything like it", said Haney.
On the positive side C l & P reported this afternoon that so far we've had zero power outages in Southington.
The storm has caused wide inconvenience to citizens pressing Governor Dan Malloy to close state roads until 4 pm Saturday. Southington Town Manager, Garry Brumback, wisely asked residents to voluntarily stay off the roads except for an absolutely emergency situation. Today it was reported that town roads were clear of traffic and that people were cooperating in staying safely in their homes and off the roads. Business was, of course, greatly inconvenienced with a virtual shut down of all schools, businesses and commercial activities other than those involved in the clean up.
From my perspective at home with only TV and the Internet to keep track of things, I was impressed with the compliance of the citizenry, the carefully targeted clean up work of the State and Town Highway Teams as well as the Police, Fire and Emergency Services departments working around the clock with only brief breaks for rest and food. Everyone seemed to put the public safety and a return to normalcy first. For those who may not have noticed, our Town Manager has made it a special mission, with the cooperation of the media, to keep the public awareness of our clean-up status high, through a series of town hall e-ommunications updates every few hours throughout the storm.
While we are not yet out of the proverbial woods, I commend all of the efforts of those who have been hard at work out in the cold for the comfort and safety of the rest of us. It is personally rewarding for me to play even a small part in the communication process. I invite you to offer your thought, experiences and insights with the visit of Charlotte in the Comments at the end of this post.
From my perspective at home with only TV and the Internet to keep track of things, I was impressed with the compliance of the citizenry, the carefully targeted clean up work of the State and Town Highway Teams as well as the Police, Fire and Emergency Services departments working around the clock with only brief breaks for rest and food. Everyone seemed to put the public safety and a return to normalcy first. For those who may not have noticed, our Town Manager has made it a special mission, with the cooperation of the media, to keep the public awareness of our clean-up status high, through a series of town hall e-ommunications updates every few hours throughout the storm.
While we are not yet out of the proverbial woods, I commend all of the efforts of those who have been hard at work out in the cold for the comfort and safety of the rest of us. It is personally rewarding for me to play even a small part in the communication process. I invite you to offer your thought, experiences and insights with the visit of Charlotte in the Comments at the end of this post.
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Now, from Southington Town Manager, Garry Brumback
February 9, 2013 at 4:02 pm.
February 9, 2013 at 4:02 pm.
This is the final update from the
state but we will keep you posted until all roads are passable.
The Governor has lifted the travel
ban effective 4:00 pm today.
However, we are encouraging residents
to stay off the road unless absolutely necessary. Crews are still working very
hard trying to clear an access pathway to all roads and traffic makes this more
difficult.
We continue to have plows working
hard and they are starting to make significant headway. Please keep in mind that we do not, (nor
should we), staff for historic events. This was a historic event. Our crews
will do all they can to make all roads passable before they depart for the
evening.
The plow crews are pressing on past
4:00p in the hopes of cutting this pathway before they shut down for the night.
Please keep in mind that while our
goal is a pathway for all roads, total plowing my take a couple of more days to
complete.
Thanks, as always for your patience,
understanding and support.
The crews are making slow progress on cutting pathways on all roads. The Highway Supt is keeping all of the available crews on the road for several more hours with the goal of getting these pathways cut.
Due to the extremely high levels of snow and the rifts associated with them it may be until later this week that the roads are completely plowed. Once we get the emergency pathways cut we will reconvene to ensure we have a sound strategy to get the road clearing completely and efficiently as possible.
I am encouraging everyone I talk to to keep this storm in perspective…it is the worst storm to hit this area in over 35 years with almost 30 inches of snow and 4-5 foot drifts. The snow plows began pretreating the roads at 4:00a Friday and have run almost nonstop ever since. They are working as hard as humanly possible while keeping an aging fleet operational and being diverted by emergency calls and transporting public safety people to points they can get to work.
Garry Brumback, ICMA-CM
Town Manager
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Governor Dannel P. Malloy
TRAVEL BAN LIFTED AT 4 PM
(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that
the travel ban will be lifted at 4PM. This will apply to all roads,
including limited access highways. “While we are lifting the ban on travel this afternoon at 4PM, I
still want to urge residents to stay off the roads if at all possible,” said
Governor Malloy. “Crews are out clearing roadways as we speak, but the
fact is we are going to feel the impact of this storm for some time. The
longer we can keep traffic out of town centers and off of our highways, the
more effective our recovery effort will be.”
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February 9, 2013 6:45 pm
School Update Regarding Monday, February 11, 2013
From Dr. Joseph E. Erardi
Superintendent of Schools
Southington, CT.
Southington, CT.
I have coordinated a regional call with superintendents for 5:30 p.m. tomorrow evening, (Sunday, February 10th). Shortly thereafter I will be able to update all on the status of school on Monday.
-------------------------------------------------------From Southington Town Council to the Town Manager
Please pass along our thanks on behalf of the
Town Council to Highway, Police and Fire Departments for their efforts in
keeping our community safe during the historic snow event. We also appreciate
the timely updates from Town Hall in keeping everyone informed.
John C. Dobbins
Chairman
Southington Town Council
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From the Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection
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From the Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection
Division of Emergency Management & Homeland Security
360 Broad Street, State Armory
Hartford, CT 06105-3706
At 6:45 PM Friday, February 8, 2013 - radar and surface observations indicated heavy snow moving into Northern CT. Temperatures currently range from the upper 20’s in Northern CT to near 32 F at the coast. NE Winds at 25 – 30 MPH are gusting to near 40 MPH at the coast. At 6:45 PM CL&P and UI were reporting a total of 6,652 customers without power primarily in Southeastern Connecticut. Total snowfall ranges from 1 – 3 inches in Western CT up to 5 – 8 inches across the rest of the state. Tides are currently running 2.5 feet above normal in Western Long Island Sound.
This Evening and Overnight…Blizzard conditions with snowfall rates up to 4” per hour and zero visibilities at times in blowing and drifting snow. Lows dropping into the low 20’s statewide with Northeast Winds gusting to 50 MPH inland and up to 70 MPH along the coast. Moderate power outages and moderate coastal flooding expected during the evening high tide. Tides are forecast to run 2 – 4 feet above normal resulting in overland flooding 1 – 3 feet deep in low lying areas of Western Long Island Sound during high tide which is at 9:50 PM in Western Long Island Sound.
Saturday Morning…Heavy snow tapering to moderate snow from West to East between 5:00 – 8:00 AM. Strong North Winds gusting to 50 MPH Inland and 60 MPH at the Coast. Zero visibilities at times with Blizzard Conditions until 8:00 AM. Later in the morning the moderate snow is forecast to taper off to flurries by Noon.
Saturday Afternoon…Continued blowing and drifting of snow with Northwest winds gusting to 40 MPH at times and ground blizzard conditions at times.
Total snowfall may be historic with 16 – 24” in Western CT, 20 – 36” in Central and Eastern CT and 15 – 30” along the coast. Isolated amounts to 40” may occur. The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) will continue to monitor the latest conditions and will issue another update at 10:00 PM.
Thomas F. Gavaghan
Region 3 Coordinator
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