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02/13/2017 11:00 PMOn Feb. 9 the tri-town area saw its largest snowstorm of the winter, with an estimated 12 to 13 inches of snow accumulation. Despite not seeing this much snow since 2015, Chester, Deep River, and Essex were well prepared for the winter weather, and town first selectmen assert that the towns were ready for more snow, which graciously arrived over the weekend.
“Clean up is pretty well coordinated by the foreman and the Public Works Department,” said Chester First Selectman Lauren Gister. “They know the problem areas, and have it down to a science.
“It helped that the Town Hall and municipal buildings were closed,” continued Gister. “It allowed the town crew to focus on the roads and leave the parking lots until after. We also had a parking ban from Wednesday night and people really respected it and kept their cars off the roads, which helped let the plows through.
“It was gorgeous, and uneventful,” said Gister.
Some trees were reported to fall on private property, and there were some minor accidents reported. Chester used eight plows, a combination of town crew and contractors, for storm clean-up.
During the storm, Deep River saw a small accident and one fire alarm on River Road that turned out to not be a fire, according to First Selectman Angus MacDonald.
“We did OK—you kind of forget how much 12 inches is,” said MacDonald. “We’re very lucky.
MacDonald hopes for an easy February and early March. The town’s five plows spent between 15 and 18 hours keeping the roads clean.
“It’s long and arduous work,” said MacDonald. “I appreciate the town’s Highway Department. They do a good job of making sure the roads are clean and safe for everyone.”
Essex had 8 to 10 plows including contractors working throughout the storm, according to First Selectman Norm Needleman, and a couple of crews working in Essex and Ivoryton on Feb. 10 to move some of the large snow piles by tractor trailer away from the roads and center areas.
“The town did a great job,” said Needleman. “We were out from about 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. and had crews sanding after the storm ended because we knew it was going to get colder.
“We did a lot of maintenance ahead of time,” continued Needleman. “Conditions for plowing were rough—there were times when it was a whiteout.”
Essex experienced some power outages, minor accidents, and a tree down at Mallard Point Road, according to Needleman, who believes Essex well-prepared for future storms and with a well-tested emergency operations plan. Needleman does encourage individuals who either don’t have auxiliary heating sources or would find themselves at risk of a medical emergency to be sure to make sure they contact both the local department of health or the utilities company, as both try to keep track of those who would need help quickly in case of future power outages.
“We have a lot of people call us in bad weather, especially if they have older parents or relatives that have medical conditions or don’t have a second heat source, and we have the power go out. The hardest part is identifying people at risk, and self-identification is the biggest help,” said Needleman. “We can’t help people quickly if we don’t know where they are. But when we know, we can make preparations to keep people safe in bad weather.”