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Joseloff: Every Effort Being Made to Restore Power

WESTPORT, Conn. – Two days after the historic October nor'easter blew into town, more than 2,000 Westport homes and businesses remain without power. But First Selectman Gordon Joseloff assures that every effort is being made to restore power as soon as possible.

"Just like Irene, we fared a bit better than many other communities in the storm, but the severity and extent of the outages statewide are hampering [Connecticut Light & Power's] ability to rapidly address our relatively limited outages," Joseloff said in a statement.

As of 2 p.m., CL&P reported 2,596 outages in Westport, or roughly 21 percent of town. Joseloff said it could be a couple of days, or more, until the town is fully restored.

Statewide, CL&P reports the peak number of outages was more than 831,000 following the storm. Nearly 150,000 of those outages have been restored, CL&P President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Butler reported.

"We expect the pace of restoration to quicken as damage assessments are completed and additional crews arrive to help with the effort," Butler said in a statement. "We expect total restoration will take a week or more in some areas, but we will continue bringing in more crews to improve on that."

Despite the outages, Joseloff said most of Westport's streets are open and passable. Crews are working to clear remaining roadways of wires and trees. Branches continue to fall on power lines because snow remains on some trees, Joseloff said. 

"As with the case with Irene, power crews often have to shut down circuits to restore some outages," he said. "That is why we see the occasional spike in the number of outages."

So far, two Westport residents have made use of Weston's overnight shelter at Weston Middle School, 135 School Road, Joseloff added.

"Westport and Weston are combining our resources on sheltering," he said. "With about 70 percent of Weston out, their shelter needs are greater. We are sending our CERT volunteers to help Weston staff their shelter."

Both Westport's Center for Senior Activities and the Westport Public Library are open to residents as warming and charging stations. The Westport Weston Family Y has also opened its doors to everyone in the community.

The town will continue to make regular updates regarding the storm via the CodeRed emergency telephone notification system, WWPT-FM 90.3, the town's website and Twitter. A map of storm-related incidents, like road closures and reports of downed wires, can also be found on the town website.

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