Towns weather storm

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Dawn Walsh walks Buddy down Red Robin Road in Naugatuck Tuesday morning. –LARAINE WESCHLER
Dawn Walsh walks Buddy down Red Robin Road in Naugatuck Tuesday morning. –LARAINE WESCHLER

With the blizzard winding down towns have begun the process of digging out.

Prospect Mayor Robert Chatfield said the town had no medical emergencies, no fires, and no injuries thus far during the storm.

“We had extra police on duty but we had no police calls,” Chatfield said.

In Beacon Falls, Beacon Hose Company No. 1 responded to three calls all night.

Beacon Falls First Selectman Christopher Bielik said there was a minor fire, a minor medical emergency and an accident on Route 8. There were no accidents on town roads.

According to Beacon Hose’s Facebook page, the accident was the only reported accident with injuries in Connecticut overnight.

There were no major incidents reported in Naugatuck.

“We are in good shape, all things considered,” Naugatuck Mayor Robert Mezzo said.

Chatfield said taking care of the roads has also gone smoothly

“The snow plowing went very smoothly. The only problem we have now is the snow drifting,” Chatfield said.

Bielik said the Public Works Department was out taking care of the roads all night. The drivers now feel they are able to take care of the roads through regular maintenance.

Both Bielik and Chatfield said the storm did not hit their towns with nearly what was predicted.

Chatfield said Prospect had approximately 12 to 15 inches on the ground early this morning.

“We are very thankful we dodged a bullet. It’s just a regular winter storm now,” Chatfield said.

Prospect plans to close its emergency operations center around noon Tuesday and Beacon Falls closed its emergency operations center at 9 a.m.

Bielik said the town had no power outages throughout the storm. He pointed out that Connecticut Light & Power says the main reason lights go out during a storm is drivers hitting telephone poles.

“I appreciate everybody responding to request to stay off the roads. It made our jobs infinitely easier,” Bielik said. “I think this is a good lesson learned for us going on into future, if we want to keep our lights on the best thing we can do is stay off the roads.”

Governor Dannel Malloy announced the statewide travel ban will be lifted at 2 p.m. Local officials are asking people to use caution on the roads.

“Town workers were on the roads all night to stay ahead of the storm, but many roads are still covered in some snow and will be throughout the day,” the firehouse said on its Facebook page.

Mezzo said borough is currently working on clearing the roads.

“Traveling remains dangerous on many streets and roads throughout Naugatuck. While we expect that all borough roads will be passable by this evening, we urge all motorists to exercise the highest degree of caution while traveling. Those driving should be on a heightened sense of awareness for pedestrians and children playing in the snow,” Mezzo said in his blog.

Chatfield urged motorists to use caution once the travel ban is lifted for the entire state.

“Please slow down, because the sand and salt aren’t going to really work at 10 degrees,” he said. “And also, people should be ever-mindful of the snow banks, where pedestrians or kids could be standing, especially whenever school opens.”