Community Corner

FEMA Inspectors to Tour Middlefield, Rest of State

Emergency management director says town's response to Hurricane Irene went "smoothly."

FEMA inspectors will spread out across Connecticut in the coming weeks, including Middlefield, to get a closer look at the damage left behind by Hurricane Irene last month.

In the meantime, residents and business owners that may have suffered financial loss due to the storm are being told to call the regional FEMA office to report storm damage. The phone number is 1-800-621-3362. 

Terry Parmelee, Middlefield's emergency management director, said FEMA will provide residents and business owners with guidelines to follow in their efforts to obtain financial reimbursement for storm damage.

Find out what's happening in Durham-Middlefieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It's important that [residents] document and maintain any bills that they have, also to take pictures so they have evidence of what happened during the storm," Parmelee said during Tuesday night's board of selectman meeting where he briefed the board on the town's preparations, response and recovery from the hurricane.

"All-in-all it went pretty smooth. A lot of hours were put in," said Parmelee, who woke up at 4:30 a.m. Sunday (Aug. 28) to begin monitoring the storm's damage and had easily worked 100 hours over the course of the last week.

Find out what's happening in Durham-Middlefieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I want to publicly thank all of the residents that helped out volunteering at the [Coginchaug High School] shelter .. we had quite a few from Middlefield, quite a few from Durham. It made it easier for us," Parmelee said before also thanking town officials and emergency responders for their efforts during and after storm.

During the height of the power outages caused by Irene, 91 percent of Connecticut Light and Power customers in Middlefield -- both residents and businesses -- were left in the dark by the storm.

While most had regained power by Friday, about two dozen customers were forced to wait nearly a week for their power to be restored over the weekend.

"CL&P, I think, did a miraculous job for us," First Selectman Jon Brayshaw said. "I can't thank them enough. They get criticized an awful lot … but they were on top of it. CL&P did a great job under the circumstances."

Parmelee said some customers may have gone longer without power if a tree or wind knocked down power lines tied directly to their homes.

Parmelee, who worked closely with officials from Durham, said once it became apparent the power outages would take days, possibly longer, to repair, the towns decided to open the temporary shelter at Coginchaug High School to all residents.

"They have better shelter facilities. Memorial School uses the showers as a storage facility so it [would] have taken a half-hour to clean that out and there are only three showers that are working, maybe five."

In addition to providing shelter, food and water (the Middlefield Fire Department provided fresh water at the fire station) for residents, Parmelee said the town reached out to horse owners and farmers as well.

"Not only were we thinking about the people, we were also thinking about the animals, the livestock" and their drinking water he said. In the end only one resident requested help.

Both Parmelee and Brayshaw made it a point to talk about communication, or lackthereof, during the storm.

"We had no 911, no landlines, no cell phones," Brayshaw said. "It was an interesting break down of technology. It shows how we are so entrenched in technology."

Parmelee said the town could have benefitted from a reverse 911 system, which is used in Durham to send alerts to residents.

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Here's a further breakdown of Hurricane Irene BY THE NUMBERS:

$1,300 - Amount, per day, saved by the towns by sharing one shelter.

$1,000* - Cost of electronic traffic signs placed at intersection of Routes 66 and 147 after traffic signals lost power.

80* - Middlefield residents reached by a reverse 911 call to alert them that the shelter at Coginchaug High School had been opened (out of approx. 2,000 residents)

1 acre - Area of land set aside at the Strickland Property for temporary disposal of storm debris. The area was mowed by the Durham Fair Association, but has yet to be utilized.

8 - Cell phone towers in Middlefield that stopped working shortly after the hurricane (Cell towers use back-up batteries, which were apparently drained quickly following the initial power outage, and would explain why many did not even have cell phone capability after the storm).

1 - Working cell phone tower in Middlefield (cell tower located behind the Red Dog Saloon worked)

100* - Residents that visited Coginchaug High School on Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. to pick up food.

300* - Residents served lunch or dinner by the Middlefield Lions Club, which held the impromptu meals on Mon., Tues. and Wed. at Peckham Park.

*Estimates according to officials


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