City of Norwich – Tropical Storm Henri 

6:30 PM – Final Update For Sunday, August 22, 2021

Both the City and NPU held conference calls earlier this evening to review and discuss the status of municipal and public utility functions in the hours following Tropical Storm Henri. Both have partially de-activating their Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) which will allow them to be reopened quickly if circumstances warrant.

As of 6:00 PM, there are approximately 530 NPU customers who are out of power; this is down from a peak of nearly 2,500 customers who were out of service this afternoon. We anticipate that power will be restored to more than 99% of our customers by 2:00 AM, Monday, August 23.

The largest remaining outages are in the following areas:

• Approximately 283 customers in the vicinity of Baltic Road
• Approximately 130 customers in the vicinity of Mohegan Park Road
• Approximately 55 customers in the vicinity of Lucas Park Road
• Approximately 20 customers in the vicinity of Sandy Lane
• Approximately 20 customers in the vicinity of Orchard Street

The remaining outages are related to individual service issues that must be resolved by a private electrician.

The City’s emergency shelter at Kelly Middle School on Mahan Drive was closed at 5:00 PM today; the Red Cross can reactivate the shelter on short notice if necessary.

All City of Norwich buildings will be open on a normal schedule on Monday morning; garbage collection will also be on a normal schedule.

A reminder that the City-wide indoor mask mandate for both public and private buildings will go into effect at midnight tonight.

This will be our final update for Sunday, August 22, 2021.

City of Norwich – Tropical Storm Henri Update

2:30 PM Update

Weather experts indicate that the eye of Tropical Storm Henri passed through our area at approximately 12:30 this afternoon, with weaker winds and less rain than was originally forecast behind it.

However, we continue to monitor Tropical Storm Henri very closely; conditions could change quickly and dramatically over the next few hours. Please continue to take this situation seriously – power outages and downed trees are still a possibility.

During the 1:00 PM meeting in the EOC, all City Departments confirmed that they remain prepared to respond to any emergency or situation that may arise in Norwich.

The Kelly Middle School on Mahan Drive is open as an emergency shelter and can provide a place to stay and meals to anyone who needs to relocate.

At this time, NPU has approximately 950 customers out of service:

• Approximately 420 in the vicinity of North Fifth Avenue in Taftville
• Approximately 300 in the vicinity of Baltic Road
• Approximately 129 in the vicinity of Mohegan Park Road

The remaining seven outages are impacting relatively small numbers of customers.

NPU crews are in the midst of making these areas safe and will begin the restoration process shortly; we will provide projections for the restoration of power in the hours ahead.

Important safety reminders:

• Any downed wire is a potentially lethal hazard and should be reported to 9-1-1 immediately
• Any de-energized traffic light should be treated as a four-way stop sign; proceed through these intersections with great caution.
• If you use a generator, make sure that it has been installed by a licensed electrician.

City of Norwich – Tropical Storm Henri Update

11:00 AM Update

The City of Norwich and Norwich Public Utilities (NPU) opened their Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) at 8:00 on Sunday, August 22, 2021.

Since Saturday evening, Tropical Storm Henri has tracked significantly toward the east, which should result in lower wind speeds but more rain for our area. This is still a very serious storm and we expect to have significant power outages and numerous downed trees.

We anticipate that the storm will increase in intensity during the next hour and move through Norwich over the next twelve hours. It is possible that we could have more than six inches of rain as a result of the storm, which is likely to cause localized flooding.

The City held a briefing this morning to confirm that all relevant departments and organizations were prepared for the arrival of the storm later this morning.

The Kelly Middle School on Mahan Drive is open as an emergency shelter and can provide meals to anyone who needs to relocate.

NPU just completed a call with its EOC team to review and discuss all preparations for every facet of NPU: Water, Wastewater, Natural Gas, Electric, Planning, Logistics, Finance / Administration, Customer Service, Safety, Public Liaison, and Human Resources.

At this time, there is a single outage in the vicinity of Old Canterbury Turnpike that is impacting about 100 customers; the outage was caused by a downed tree. NPU is working to remove the tree and restore power.

Our next update will be issued after the next EOC calls at 1:00pm (City) and 2:00pm (NPU)