Our state is getting ready for heavy rain and winds tomorrow -- from a storm that's expected to cause power outages.
This storm might put new emergency management equipment in West Haven to the test.
"We'll make sure we have all hands ready to go,” said Rick Fontana, the Emergency Management Director of West Haven.
Newly implemented this summer are storm gates in frequently flooded areas.
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Fontana said first responders will close them Wednesday, if necessary, for the first time.
"We just wanted to be prepared for a large outage. It could be a winter storm, it could be a summer storm, any type of significant weather that we get,” Fontana said.
Also newly added to their fleet are two 2,200-watt solar powered chargers. They will be put in neighborhood if needed due to the number of outages.
"We could do 100 phones and a handful of medical devices at the same time,” Fontana said.
As West Haven prepares, other parts of the state are hoping to not have a repeat of what we saw back in August with washed out roads and flooded homes.
"I was very lucky that I was not stranded,” Kurt Haedke, of Southbury, said.
"I live in Oxford, and we went through 19 inches of rain,” Greg Wanamaker, of Oxford, said.
People from Southbury and Oxford say they’re still recovering from that devastating flooding and are hoping they’ll make it through tomorrow without any damage.
“My house survived that storm, I’m pretty confident it can handle just about anything,” Haedke said.
"Maybe some power outages. I’ll stay home,” Wanamaker said.
Speaking of power outages, Eversource said the big concern is the strong winds. They say they are bringing in extra crews from Massachusetts, and have line workers positioned all over the state.
"Should we see impacts in specific spots of the state, we are able to quickly, pivot crews and move them to other locations to help restore power,” Jamie Ratliff, a spokesperson for Eversource, said.
Eversource reminds people to prepare a storm kit with chargers, food, batteries and flashlights.
