When last I wrote on Facebook…
July 4, 7:22PM
That was interesting.
I was sitting outside on the deck under the overhang. Listening to my book And then it poured! I mean it came down in bucket for maybe 5 seconds, then the sun came out!
About 20 or 30 minutes later it started to pour and I decided it was time to retreat indoors.
But little did I know that a squall line moved through around 8:30 Saturday night.
It is insane! Extreme winds, hail bouncing off the skylights, leaves that were stripped from trees blew by. It was like the opening of the Wizard of Oz. I have a feeling that the storm caught them flat-footed. The storm warnings were just a slight chance of a severe storm, and it took everyone by surprise. It was all straight-line wind in a microburst. [News reports said the wind was 60 – 70mph!]
Then everything went dark and the power has been out ever since then. Eversource said that it would be on by 6:00 AM; well, it is 9:00 AM but still no power. They also report over 1,500 customers without power in town.
The refrigerator has to be emptied. At one in the morning, I finished the ice cream that was now chocolate milk. Everything has melted after 12 hours with no electricity. Usually, we are the first ones to get power back because we are on the main line for the southern side of town. But this time all the damage is localized, so right now all I hear are chainsaws and wood chippers.
Eversource Saturday 11:20 PM: We expect power to be restored by 07/05 06:00 AM.
Sunday morning
Eversource Sunday 7:10AM: We expect power to be restored by 07/05 03:00 PM.
This morning I woke to the sound of generators. And of course, with no warning I had no time to charge anything, all the batteries are low and getting lower.
Eversource Sunday 3:09PM: We expect power to be restored by 07/06 01:00 AM
Now they are saying that the power will be back on at 4:30.
I took a ride around town to charge my phone and see the damage, which is consistent with a microburst—it is linear, about a mile wide and about 3 miles long. Everywhere else there is no damage and they have power.
It is really interesting how they repaired the lines. They send an assessment team; he was walking around the downed line with a tablet. He was followed a couple of hours later by a tree crew. I could hear the chainsaws and the chipper. And there are two line crews working on it now. My guess is that I will have power back in an hour. [Ha… that was very conservative… 3 days later!]
Nope! 1:00 AM!
Monday morning
Eversource Monday 12:59AM: We expect power to be restored by 07/06 12:00 PM.
Still no power… work to the sound of construction equipment all around.
Off to the seafood place!
Home with two containers of ice!
It is going to be an early night. No lights, no TV, no internet. And the big question of the night: When will the power comes on, will the internet also come back? Since the top of the telephone pole is broken off and suspended about 4 feet off the ground, is the cable still good? That is the question.
The new “in” thing for the suburbs: a generator! There are ones on either side of me plus one down the street purring away.
My tablet is down to 25%!
I just got another email… “Good news, all power will be back by Tuesday!” Um, I don't call that good news. I am still counting on their last time of 1:00 AM. So hopefully when I get up in the morning I will have power.
No hot water. Means no showers.
Down to 22%. Tick tock… how much longer? Is it good that they keep missing their deadlines? I am not frustrated; I realize that with this kind of disaster, you just can't tell what you’ll find when you actually start the repairing.
Down to 20%.
Isolation unplugged! No internet. No email. I have a Zoom meeting (I think, since I can't check my calendar) Friday. Batteries running down on everything.
18%
Two emails overnight. The first one said that the power will be back by noon today! Yay!!! The second email said by noon tomorrow… boo!
17%
You know, you don't realize how dependent you are on the internet.
I think that they are doing a fantastic job, but one area of improvement is to say when power is coming back on and then keep pushing it out... that is wrong. Instead, say that there is a lot of damage and we don't know yet and it could be a long time. If I knew that at the beginning, I would have taken some precautions like buying some ice.
I realize that they are under a lot of pressure to keep people informed, but let them know that it is bad! The first morning of the outage, in search of breakfast, I saw the telephone pole just laying there and lines down all up and down the street. I knew it was bad. Then I found all the side streets blocked with downed trees. When I finally got coffee and a doughnut, I drove around and saw all the damage. It was about a mile wide and a couple of miles long; it looked like a madman with a chainsaw cut the trees down.
What it reminded me of was an ice storm in the '60s that snapped the tops off of the trees; you can now see those trees a generation later. The same goes for the tornado that crossed I-84 just over the Massachusetts border. This will leave a scar like those.
As I'm writing this, a couple of utility trucks back down the street, I guess to tackle the downed pole.
I was getting terrified Saturday with the storm. I had just written on Facebook about a downpour that was so amazing when all hell broke loose.
12%
It looked like hurricane-force winds, and I know, I have been in a number of hurricanes. Hail was pounding the skylights, branches and leaves flew by, and then it was over. The sun was out, the birds were singing. Just like an ordinary Saturday afternoon. Except trees were down everywhere, no power.
So it is 8:35 Monday, still no power, so I'm going to get ready to go for breakfast and charge everything. The phone, tablet, and old phone with all my audiobooks.
1:45 PM, still no power, but trucks are working on the road just behind my house. So I've got my fingers crossed. I charged up my phone and book, but not the tablet, and it's now at 9%.
Looking at the outage map, I noticed that there are 3 distinct lines across the state. The one that my house is in starts up around Torrington and ends just south of me. You see that the outages—those 30 or 40 outages—are in a diagonal.
6:20 PM, still no power! I found my propane lantern and will be using the lantern.
Okay, are you ready for this? 11:45 PM Tuesday now!
Tuesday morning
Eversource Monday 7/6/2026, 2:29 AM: We expect power to be restored by 07/07 11:45 PM
Eversource Monday 7/6/2026, 3:49 AM: We believe the outage in the area of 57 VINEYARD DR has been restored around 07/07 03:19 AM . This outage impacted 1472 customer(s) and may have been caused by tree limbs contacting power lines.
POWER IS BACK! 3:19 AM Tuesday.
No internet or cable, though. But hot water is back—oodles and oodles of hot water!
Now comes the wait for the cable people to fix the cable, and maybe drive around looking for a hotspot. I don't know what's worse… no power or no internet.
Waiting for the cable is harder.
10:50AM, the cable is back.
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