More Than 300 People Using Manchester Emergency Shelter; Schools Closed Through End of Week

Town officials said Tuesday that the effects of Winter Storm Alfred on Manchester were “devastating” and that they did not know how long it might take for power to be restored to all residents and for all town roads to be reopened and debris from the storm cleared.

As Public Works staff and line and tree crews from Connecticut Light & Power worked throughout town to remove downed wires, reopen roads and restore power Tuesday, General Manager Scott Shanley said the town was still dealing with the debilitating impact of the storm.

Shanley said that more than 300 people stayed over night at the town’s emergency shelter at Manchester High School Tuesday, located at 134 East Middle Tpke., and that the shelter served more than 350 meals. He said the shelter would remain open for as long as residents needed it, but that the goal was to begin to transition shelter services back to the Manchester Senior Center at 549 East Middle Tpke. as less and less residents required shelter, although it was unclear Tuesday when that might begin as a significant portion of town still lacked power.

The senior center was the initial shelter opened in town, but when it reached capacity Sunday afternoon the town began moving people to the high school.

All public schools in Manchester, including Howell Cheney Technical High School, will be closed through the end of the week. Shanley said that the school closures were partially attributed to the fact that the high school was still needed as a shelter area, but also because only four public schools in town currently have power and that downed wires and trees still made many streets and sidewalks impassable.

Public Works Director Mark Carlino said his staff has been working significant overtime hours since the storm struck Saturday afternoon, but that there were still a number of roads closed in town. Carlino said town staff was working in conjunction with CL&P crews to address “problem areas” in town, roads or pedestrian areas where wires were still down or blocked by large trees.

When asked, both Shanley and Carlino said they had received no estimate from CL&P as to when power might be restored in town, but Carlino noted that CL&P had approximately 10 crews working throughout town at about noon Tuesday.

As of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, CL&P was reporting that approximately 24,327 electrical customers out of 28,644 in Manchester, or roughly 84 percent, were still without power. Click here to see CL&P’s full outage map.

CL&P has already placed on its website a list of 50 towns in Connecticut with projections on when they will be 99 percent restored. Most are in the eastern and southwestern parts of the state, which are the areas that were less affected by the October snowstorm that pummeled the region on Saturday. CL&P President Jeff Butler.

Mary Anne Burnham, a Vernon resident and a registered nurse who works in East Hartford, has been volunteering at the Manchester emergency shelter since Monday evening and said that local hospitals have been sending more and more non-critical people to shelters, because they too are beginning to receive an influx of people and need to keep their beds clear for emergency situations.

“We’re getting more and more people as the day goes by that need medical attention,” said Burnham, “because the hospitals are trying to clear out.”

One Manchester couple who have been at the shelter everyday since it opened on Saturday are Cathy and Jack Rose, who said they have hot water in their home but not electricity or heat. The Roses said they have been spending their days at the shelter, where they can get a meal and stay warm, talk to people or recharge their electronic devices, and then spending the night at their son’s home in town, where there is power.

“It’s nice here. Everybody’s really nice,” said Cathy Rose. “We just sit here all day and watch all the people.”

Burnham said she too was impressed by how many people in Manchester have turned out to lend support at the shelter.

“Everybody here is just here to help people, from the police officers to the volunteers,” she said. “I mean, I don’t live in Manchester, but I would after this.”