Volume 19, Number 30 Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
www.TownTimes.com
Friday, November 2, 2012
Hurricane Sandy: towns ‘dodged a bullet’ By Stephanie Wilcox Town Times
The coast of Connecticut took a beating from Hurricane Sandy, along with the eastern and western part of the state. And she certainly was not kind to New York and New Jersey. But Durham and Middlefield narrowly escaped the worst of Hurricane Sandy’s impact on New England. “We consider ourselves
very fortunate in that we weathered this storm with minimal damage,” said Durham First Selectman Laura Francis. “We dodged a bullet because we were on the fringe of the storm,” said Middlefield First Selectman Jon Brayshaw. “We were not in the direct path of the storm.” Both Brayshaw and Francis agree that, thanks to having plans in place before the storm hit, the towns were in a
good position when Sandy made her mark. “As always, I am very proud of our staff and emergency response team,” Francis said. “Each department had their storm plans in place and executed them properly. Moving the Emergency Operations Center to the town hall along with the generator proved to be very successful, both from an emergency response point of view and from a continuity of
government perspective as well. We were able to operate government functions with very little disruption as well as reassign town staff for storm response.” Before the storm, Durham Emergency Management Director Francis Willett said both towns expected and prepared to deal with a lot of trees and branches down with power outages. But he was confident that “Durham and Middlefield are prepared
for Hurricane Sandy.” Part of this preparation was a refined utility response with CL&P. “The learning curve has really developed based on last year’s experience.” Brayshaw said. With each of last year’s events, we got better. We have a more finely tuned process this time around.” Middlefield implemented See Hurricane, page 2
Trees fall into the Durham Dari Serv parking lot, above left, and across a driveway on Kickapoo Road in Middlefield, above right. Photos by Stephanie Wilcox
... you’ll find it all at
1264640
Our Christmas Tree Showroom Is Open With Over 50 Pre-lit Trees On Display.
THE THE BEST BEST LIFE-LIKE LIFE-LIKE PRE-LIT PRE-LIT CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS TREES TREES All All On On Sale Sale 1076 South Colony Rd., Wallingford, CT Exit 13 off I-91, turn right
203-265-9309 ★ 1-800-988-4669
20% 20% -- 25% 25% OFF! OFF! *Off Reg. Price. Certain items excluded. See store for details.
SAVE MORE!
instant in-store rebates on pre-lit Christmas trees Save up to an additional $100. See store for details. Hours: Monday-Friday 9-6, Saturday & Sunday 9-5 CONNECTICUT’S LARGEST CHRISTMAS DECORATING STORE! DIRECTIONS AND SPECIALS VISIT WWW.VINNYSSHOWPLACE.COM