Most Branford Roads Cleared

After back-breaking work, payloaders and public works trucks cleared a majority of all Branford streets by this morning, leaving narrow lanes available for what officials say is icy and treacherous driving, as the clean-up from Winter Storm Nemo continued. The next issue facing the town is opening storm drains buried under snow piles on town streets.Flooding has begun.

Larger pay loaders were called in to push mounds of snow from the streets. Drivers need to handle one lane roads and face backing up and getting stuck. First Selectman Anthony ​“Unk” DaRos said only a dozen streets had not been plowed as of this morning. After a morning of icy rain, flooding was reported in the Amtrak Bridge area near Kohl’s and on Cedar Street, a major road that connects Branford to I‑95. Here was Kohl’s parking lot yesterday. 

DaRos said after Governor Malloy’s visit to Branford shortly after noon today that his primary concern as the day unfolded was street flooding, the result of storm drains trapped under mounds of snow. ​“We are working on it,” he said. There are a total of 12 trucks of various sizes out on the roads today, he told the Eagle. He said he hoped the last of the roads would be opened today, but that it might take days to move the huge mounds of snow at corners all over town. 

The center of town was closed to traffic today as big payloaders sought to remove mounds of snow near the center’s businesses. 

Both the governor, who was visiting Branford during a statewide tour of the damage, and DaRos urged residents Monday to stay at home if possible. Schools in Branford are closed today and will be Tuesday. Workers were removing snow that had accumulated on school roofs. Town Hall was opened for business.

DaRos also announced that all curbside garbage and paper pick-up will be cancelled this week.

At the Branford fire house shortly after noon, Governor Malloy said Branford seems to be in much better shape than many other communities who don’t have or were not able to get the heavy equipment needed to push deep, weighty, wet, getting-even-wetter snow. Malloy said he was very concerned about flooding with backed up drains and roof collapses. Here is the governor with Fire Chief Jack Ahern and Police Capt. Geoffrey Morgan.

The governor stayed about 10 minutes for what amounted to a brief press conference and then headed for Bridgeport, where neighborhoods are still snowed in. Here he is with Lori Mack of WNPR and television reporters from various local stations as Branford State Rep. Lonnie Reed and DaRos look on.

B‑Informed Police System Outage Hits Other Towns

Police Chief Kevin Halloran told the Eagle that his main agenda item today is to again try to get the police department’s B‑Informed information system working throughout the town. It is serviced by an outside company. DaRos confirmed that other towns across the state using the same system were also experiencing ongoing trouble and in a conference call had complaints about the B‑Informed system.

Police communications from DaRos to residents via the B‑Informed system have been erratic. The town’s emergency emails sent out to residents did not have the information attached. Some residents also reported to the Eagle that the B‑Informed calls were without DaRos’s message. Calls did not make it through on landlines. One resident reported that a B‑Informed call came through on a cell phone but cut out mid-sentence toward the end of the DaRos call. Some residents have not received B‑informed messages since Friday. In addition, the B‑Informed system was having trouble leaving texts and e‑mails to smart phones. 

Trucks, police cars, taxis and other vehicles all found themselves stuck all over town Sunday. In recent years, the police department invested in SUVs. Without them, the department would not have been able to function in the blizzard, Halloran said.

Digging out did not necessarily include mailboxes. 

Fire hydrants seemed to be faring better.

Here’s the Branford train station Sunday.

The Blackstone Memorial Library appeared majestic in her snow drifts. 

Roof Collapses

Chief Halloran said today’s B‑Informed message to residents will concentrate on snow roof removal. ​“We are going to encourage people to use roof rakes and not get on the roof themselves.”

Branford Fire Department crews have been busy responding to accidents, slip-and-fall injuries and roof collapses, Heffernan said. 

“Our biggest concern right now is the weight of snow on roofs,” Heffernan said Monday morning. He said crews evacuated three people from the Greens condos on Peddler’s Drive in the Branford Hills section of town. Heffernan said the residents were not injured but the condo’s roof partially collapsed. He said the building’s roof has multiple peaks and the snow drifts accumulated in between the roof peaks. The residents went to stay with friends.

On Sunday Chief Ahern said a roof collapsed at a vacant building, the former Meineke Muffler business located at 845 West Main St. (at Orchard Hill Road). The business moved farther down West Main Street during the fall. Also, three greenhouses at Vaiuso’s Farms off I‑95 at Exit 53 collapsed under the weight of the snow, fire and police officials said.

Ahern said there were the usual medical calls, including one for chest pains from shoveling and another for a child injured jumping from a deck into a snow pile.

And then at 2 a.m. Monday the Fire Department responded to an Essex ambulance that turned over on I‑95. Heffernan said Branford ambulance crews responded to the overturned ambulance on I‑95 South near exit 52 on the Branford-East Haven border. He said the Hunter ambulance was transporting a patient from Essex to Yale New Haven Hospital .“When our unit arrived the ambulance was on its side… everyone was out of the vehicle when we arrived.” He said Branford medics treated and transported the people to the Yale facility.

On Sunday, when the sun was out strong, some took time to enjoy the remarkable views.

Here a group of kids with Mom and Dog on Harbor Street.

And guys having fun.

A couple took to their snow shoes.

And soon the sun was setting on Branford’s harbor. 

Sally E. Bahner and Diana Stricker contributed reporting for this story.

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