A motorcyclist was seriously injured in an accident in Brookfield this weekend.  Emergency responders were dispatched to Candlewood Lake Road between Federal and Nabby Roads Saturday night on a report of a collision.  Police said the road was closed for an extended period of time as the investigation continued.  Initial reports were that the motorcyclist was unconscious and struggling to breath.

Newtown Police Officers have been bringing food and bottled water to residents who've been without power since Tuesday's storm.  The Emergency Operations Center identified impacted neighborhoods where there were elderly residents, those with medical conditions or those unable to reach out for help.  Newtown Police urged residents who are concerned about a family member, friend, neighbor to reach out and they'll do what they can to help.

The Ridgefield Transfer Station is accepting storm related debris at no cost to Ridgefield residents. All commercial haulers will be charged unless accompanied by the resident.  Ridgefield officials are asking that residents not pile brush on the street as there is no town brush removal program. 

Bethel Emergency Management has received a donation from Duracell of a limited supply of mostly AA batteries and some C and D size batteries. They are available at the Bethel Public Schools Middle School shower station as well as at the Municipal Center.  The Stony Hill Fire Department charging station was closed today as the building will be used for voting tomorrow.

Danbury Police say several members took action to help a man who was trapped in his house by a fallen tree.  Sgt. Krupinsky and Officers Hildebrand and Geanuracos cut the tree during the start of the storm and helped rescue the man.  The tree pinned the door closed.  The resident was uninjured.

A man has been killed in a construction accident in Newtown on Friday.  Police, firefighters and Newtown Ambulance responded to Lakeview Terrace on a report of a man falling off a building platform down a steep embankment.  Police say the home was under construction.  The 60-year old was found unresponsive and in very serious condition.  Medical personal attempts to revive the male were unsuccessful. This incident is currently being investigated by both Newtown Officers with the assistance by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.  Police say they will not be releasing a name at this time.

A Back the Blue rally has been held in Danbury.  Sgt. John Krupinsky, president of the Connecticut State Fraternal Order of Police, has been outspoken against the police accountability bill signed by Governor Lamont last month.  Speakers included Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and  Police Chief Patrick Ridenhour.  The Newstimes reports that the organization called Back the Blue CT promoted Saturday's event, including with a batter from Act for America, considered by the Southern Poverty Law Center to be an anti-Muslim hate group.  Back the Blue says their organization is not affiliated with Act for America and that it was an independent, community-led event.  According to Act for America’s website, Back the Blue is an Act for America activism campaign to build support for officers.  

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton says a serious situation is developing at the Glen Apartments on Memorial Drive.  There is still no power at the facility for elderly and disabled residents.  Boughton says so far Eversource has not responded to pleas to restore service and there are no trucks on scene. 

HART buses were brought in for cooling overnight, and should there not be any results soon--any resident who wants a shelter the City will figure out a way to pay for their housing. 

Boughton says these situations around Danbury are now becoming life threatening.  He may put out a call for food and ice today if the situation doesn't improve. 

Boughton has been highly critical of Eversource’s response. He said the first Eversource crews arrived in Danbury on Thursday, two days after the storm. Boughton joined state and federal officials in expressing frustration that the utilities didn’t appear to be prepared for the storms, despite having nine years to upgrade their systems and response plans following two storms in 2011 that both knocked out power to 800,000 customers. 

Some state lawmakers are doubtful the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority would rubber stamp a request from Eversource to put the tab for storm response on customer's bills; something President of Regional Electric Operation Craig Hallstrom has said the utility will likely do. Danbury State Representative David Arconti, chair of the legislature's Energy Committee, says he wants to look into whether to require a utility's profits be used for storm management, or a percentage of profits for storm response.  Arconti hopes that would force Eversource and United Illuminating to properly build resiliency into the grid. State regulators have launched an investigation into both utilities’ preparation and response to Tuesday’s storm, which cut power to more than 700,000 customers.

Newtown officials say Eversource has given the town misinformation.  First Selectman Dan Rosenthal apologized to residents after initially saying that certain roads would be cleared, but crews showed up a day later. In past events, he says the information received from the community representative has been reliable and consistent.  Rosenthal noted that the liaison is not to blame because it appears the approach taken by Eversource management has been to restrict the representatives’ access to the “war room”, where they plan and allocate resources.  He says this is a complete departure from previous practice and has led to all kinds of frustration.

The Bethel Police Department is continuing to operate using the backup generator.  First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker says the highway crew did get some help this weekend from Eversource and their tree contractor, but that Eversource was not able to give them as much time as they needed.  There are some roads that remain completely closed with wires and trees on the ground.  Several other key thru-roads are open but restricted to one lane, including Wolfpits and Payne. They are passable, but motorists are advised to avoid them if possible.  Knickerbocker says some town employees have gone above and beyond the call of duty during this stressful time including Emergency Operations Director Tom Galliford, Parks & Recreation Director Eileen Earl, Director of Public Utilities Tom Villa, and Highway Superintendent Bob Dibble.

New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said last night that  Eversource again told him the town would receive a contingent of Out of State Linesman. Currently there are zero in New Milford.  There are crews from Frontier, ATT that helped in clearing portions of Long Mountain Road. There are still some trees with wires but those are Eversource and have to be taken down by them or Mutual Aid.  After calling Eversource, Bass says he still doesn't have an answer for their absence.  He says the utilty's lines of communication is disjointed at best. There are 2 Stay Safe Eversource crews working in New Milford.   Bass says lack of preparation, poor communication with their own staff, Town government, residents, false promises, continue to haunt this restoration process. 

Potable and non potable water will be available at New Fairfield High School and Middle School until 7PM.  Town officials are reminding motorists not to drive through barricades at closed roads. The roads have been closed by the police or Eversource for everyone's safety.  The New Fairfield Town Clerk and Registrars of Voters have been working to ensure that polls will be open tomorrow for the primary.  Anyone voting in person, should report to their normal polling station from 6AM to 8PM.  Voters are asked to wear a mask, follow all signage, maintain social distancing, have ID ready and to bring their own blue or black ballpoint pen for marking ballots. Absentee ballots may be placed in the ballot collection box outside of town hall until 8PM on primary night, tomorrow.

Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell continues to meet at the Emergency Operations Center, monitoring the cleanup and restoration efforts.  While the County has seen a little more than half of impacted customers get their power restored, there are still over 16,000 without.  NYSEG expects to see significant progress by the end of the day.  Dry Ice and water is being made available to customers impacted by the outage. Residents should contact their local municipality for distribution information because each will establish their own location and schedule.  Locations will include Brewster Village Town Hall, Carmel Knights of Columbus, Mahopac Roller Rink Parking Lot, Patterson Town Hall and Southeast Town Hall.

Eversource continues to have multiple trucks in all areas of Kent working on restoring power.  The utility  brought two generators online last night at Templeton Farms to provide temporary power to the residents.  Charter Communications has committed to provide additional crews in town today to restore internet and phone service. 

Due to the incoming heat wave, Kent CERT will be opening a cooling center today and tomorrow from 11am -6pm, at the Kent School Pre-Engineering center, located in the old Cyberian Outpost building behind the Kent Town Center shops on North Main Street. Charging station, bottled water and MRE distribution are relocated there as well.  There is a bottle fill station at the Kent Welcome Center at the rear of the building near the shower. 

The Welcome Center bathrooms and shower are open.  The coin operation has been modified to make the showers free. There are quarters on top of the coin-op machine to use so that the shower will turn on, but the coin-catch is open so they come back out.  Users are asked to put the coins back on top of the machine for the next person.

Danbury State Representative David Arconti serves as chair of the legislature's Energy and Technology Committee.  He says the group will conduct its own hearing into what he called Eversource's incomprehensible response--from wrongly categorizing the storm event all the way down to their communication system failure.  This is separate from PURA's investigation.  Arconti says the hearing will include investigating their storm management response, delivery charges, whether or not enough investments have been made hardening the grid, and whether Eversource needs to make immediate investments in their linemen.  Arconti echoed Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton's questioning of where the money has gone considering Eversource made a $1 billion in profits in 2018 and their CEO gets a $19 million compensation package.

The Town of Newtown hopes to begin its curbside pickup and removal of storm generated debris sometime on or after August 17th. Only trees, limbs and similar storm debris from the Tropical Storm is FEMA reimbursable.  Debris collection will be done within a three week period.  A property owner must place all debris within 10 feet of the curb, but not into the roadway--and not blocking sightlines. During the collection, residents should keep at least 75 feet or more away from all crews and equipment as injuries may be caused by flying debris or distraction.

Bridgewater's Public Works Department on Hut Hill Road will be accepting brush in diameter up to 3 inches from 9am to 1pm today. Public Works will also be open to accept brush throughout next week, 7:30am to 2:30pm.

Monroe firefighters continue to respond to numerous carbon monoxide emergencies.  While Department officials say this means CO detectors work; it does mean residents are running generators too close to their homes. A generator should be at least 20 feet from the house, windows on that side of the home should not be open and the exhaust of the generator should face away from the house.  Carbon Monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas.

Weston's Office of Emergency Management says there was a structural fire at the generator building in the town hall complex yesterday.  They lost power, telephone service and internet, along with 911 service and radio communications.  911 was redirected to Wilton and the Fairfield County mobile field communications truck was brought to Weston. The town received mutual aid from both Wilton and Westport Fire Departments.