Some Tree Cutters Came a Long Way

Work starts at 7 a.m. and goes until 11 at night. Crews in Ledyard were going full-tilt cutting limbs away from wires. They consisted of Ledyard Public Works employees, CL&P workers and various workers from out of state. 

On Wednesday morning, they were clearing away a fallen tree on Hermitage Drive in Gales Ferry. When work began Tuesday, there were nearly 30 blocked roads in town. By the end of Tuesday, only about a dozen remained.

"This has been a very methodical process," Ledyard Public Works Director Steve Masalin, who said the first priority has been to reopen roads so that crews from CL&P could gain access and deal with the downed wires.

Once the area is all clear, Masalin's crew can go back in and clean up the brush. Town workers have been workers have been on the job since the winds first picked up, and will continue until the job is finished.

Masalin said about 12 trouble spots remained to be addressed yesterday. "We are hoping by the end of today we'll have all but a couple of stragglers taken care of," he said.

All the way from Wisconsin

According to CL&P employee Doug Haynes, many of the people on teams working to clear Ledyard had come from New Hampshire and Vermont. Two workers on his crew had driven their truck from Wisconsin, a 32-hour journey with one rest stop in Pennsylvania. 

When they arrived, they were first put up in a hotel in Old Saybrook with no power, before being moved to a Best Western in Groton that did have power.

Haynes, whose father had been a lineman during Gloria believed that the scale of the destruction from Irene is slightly worse than the '85 hurricane.

"I heard all the same stories that I hear now," he said.

Downed power lines, Haynes said, are a risk in their work because generators at houses can re-electrify the wires. This often happens when the homeowner plugs the generator into a drier outlet and does not turn off the breaker. It's illegal and a hazard to anyone near the wires.

Even with their brutal work schedule, the crews did find some time to take a break and pull their vehicles into the Dunkin' Donuts off of Route 12 for cold drinks.

Over by the Harvard Boathouse, Robert Berry had brought a loader and a wood-chipper over to help out his sister, who is the boathouse caretaker. Though wind had taken down several trees around the Harvard property the boathouse itself had been unharmed by the hurricane. 

According to Berry, the Yale Boathouse had been less fortunate, and taken in water during the storm.

Residents looking for fresh water may go to the Gales Ferry or Ledyard Fire Departments. They might even have sone ice. During the day, the departments had been on call to assist elderly residents and to pump out flooded basements.

There wasn't much need for the latter, as Irene turned out to be more wild than wet for our region.