Officials fear 'unprecedented' damage as Hurricane Sandy nears state

For those underwhelmed as the leading wind field of Hurricane Sandy moved into southern Connecticut on Monday morning, forecasters and public officials had a warning: "Just wait.''

Conditions are expected to deteriorate rapidly as the winds pick up and the 11:30 a.m. high tide approaches, WTNH forecaster Gill Simmons said. Wind gusts of 90 miles per hour are possible later Monday and Tuesday, with the likelihood of most of the state losing power.

During a briefing Monday morning, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he is "this is the most catastrophic event that we have faced and been able to plan for in our lives." He said he is concerned most about "loss of life and property," along the shoreline, including in Bridgeport, where a storm surge of 11 feet is possible Monday night into Tuesday morning.

"We are most worried about the high tide at midnight. It will be the third surge of the past two days, and has the potential to cause the most damage, perhaps unprecedented damage," Malloy said.

He said the worst of the winds will begin at 3 p.m. and last until 3 a.m.

"Expect a lot of power outages and expect them to last a long time," Malloy said, adding gusts could reach 90 mph and will be between 20-30 mph.

A full truck ban will likely be put in effect late Monday morning or afternoon and the highways will be closed when winds reach up to 45 mph. Malloy said he plans to ban trucks from limited-access highways at 11 a.m. and will close state highways at 1 p.m.

"It really is time for us to stay home, hang on, pray and hope for the best," Malloy said. "But we are prepared for the absolute worst."

Malloy said those in evacuation areas should get out immediately, if they haven't done so yet.

Non-essential state employees were told to stay home during all shifts Monday.

FEMA personnel are on the ground in Connecticut and a pre-landfall emergency declaration was signed by President Barack Obama.

State police are at a maximum level and 850 National Guardsmen were deployed and will remain deployed throughout the storm.

Schools were closed across the region Monday. Public transportation -- including Metro-North Railroad, Greater Bridgeport Transit, Amtrak and the Port Jefferson ferry -- were suspended. Thousands of flights were canceled at local airports, including Bradley International in Windsor Locks and LaGuardia and JFK in New York. Tweed Airport in New Haven is closed during the storm.

Connecticut Light & Power was reporting 2,606 customers without power as of 8:20 a.m., mainly in Waterbury, where 1,145 were in the dark. Greenwich also had 360 outages Monday morning, the utility reported. United Illuminating reported just one outage at 8:20 a.m., in Bridgeport.

CL&P Senior Vice President Bill Quinlan said "good progress," is being made in its preparations. The company is concerned about the Stamford South End substation and is working to strengthen its protection. It serves 8,000 customers, including downtown and the South End. Two walls are being built to protect it from flooding.

Quinlan said the focus will be on emergency 911 calls and working with towns and cities to clear blocked roads.

United Illuminating has 20 percent more lineworkers, treeworkers and damage assessors than at the peak of Tropical Storm Irene last year.

"Our tree and line activity will happen after the winds subside," said John Prote, senior vice president for UI.

Prote said the company has taken "extraordinary efforts" to prevent flooding from getting into control rooms at its six shoreline substations, including in Bridgeport and Milford. If they can't stop the water, they will preemptively deenergize the substations to prevent a catastrophic failure, which would take weeks to repair.

There were still only 170 people in Bridgeport's shelters at 8 a.m., Mayor Bill Finch said, but the city is prepared to house 13,000 people in a Category 2 storm. "We can open 12 more schools if we have to and I've spoken to (Fairfield First Selectman) Mike Tetreau and Tim Herbst ( Trumbull first selectman) about opening a regional shelter if the weather warrants it."

Scott Appleby, Bridgeport's emergency operations director, said all of the drills and scenarios his agency runs will be useful in this storm. "We prepare for the unthinkable, and today may be one of those unthinkable events."

Charles Carroll, the city's public facilities and parks director, urged residents to bring in their garbage cans, recycling bins and political signs--all of which can become hazards if picked up the wind.

He also urged people to clean out their storm drains before the rain starts. This will diminish street flooding by allowing the water to flow out.

Carroll also urged residents to stay out of Seaside Park, which, like the city's other parks are closed indefinitely.

"It will flood," he said.

Police officers have been going door-to-door in low-lying areas for the past 20 hours, "and we'll go until noon doing that,'' Chief Joseph Gaudett said. "Folks who have experienced this kind of flooding are quicker to leave than those who haven't had this experience,'' the Bridgeport chief said. "It's not too bad right now, and we're not going to have a lot of rain, from what I understand. It's really about the winds and the tides. People need to evacuate now before the roads become impassable."

Finch said Sunday night that about there were about 170 people at the city's three shelters -- Jettie Tisdale School, Cesar Batalla School and Geraldine Johnson School -- despite the fact that he ordered a mandatory evacuation of low-lying and flood-prone areas. He said firefighters and police would be back out knocking on doors and notifying residents in those areas of the evacuation order and assisting those who need transportation to shelters.

"This has potential to be a very serious storm. For all of those residents living in the flood-prone areas -- please evacuate your homes," said Finch. "We're preparing for Category 2 type hurricane flooding, which we've never experienced."

Early Monday morning firefighters were back on Bridgeport streets strongly urging people who had not left the flood prone areas along Railroad Avenue to spend the next few days at an emergency shelter or with family and friends.

"We're telling them that we may not be able to come back during the height of the storm," said Bridgeport Fire Chief Brian Rooney. "By heeding our warnings they would be doing a community service."

Rooney said firefighters are working 12-hour shifts. He's also called in the 21 candidates currently training in Windsor Locks to help out during the next few days.

"We also have two extra engine companies working on overtime to help out in an emergency," Rooney said.

"We're very concerned about fires during this storm," he said. "I can stress how important it is to residents to be careful with candles. If you are going to use them, keep them in areas away from children."

He said city's the nine fire marshals will be helping out with power outages.

"We can afford to leave crews sitting on these areas too long," Rooney said. "On some of them we'll just have to yellow tape the areas off."

Police Chief Joseph Gaudett Jr. said his men also are working 12-hour shifts.

"Right now we are focusing on evacuation from the southern part of the city," Gaudett said.

But he added that police also are keeping a watch for break-ins and looting of businesses in evacuated areas.

"We will have officers on duty in those areas as long as conditions permit," Gaudett said. "If the weather gets so bad that it endangers an officer's safety, we will have them take shelter until conditions improve."

Meanwhile Mayor Bill Finch said he has made no decision on whether or not to recommend parents keep their children home on Wednesday which is Halloween.

"If safety becomes an issue, I would encourage parents not to let their children Trick or Treat. It's all about our children being safe."

In Stratford 13 people spent the night at the town's shelter at Bunnell High School, said Marc Dillion, operations manager for Mayor John Harkins. No power outages had been reported by 8 a.m., he said.

Sunday night, Harkins ordered a mandatory evacuation of Lordship, and other shoreline and low-lying areas in anticipation of a potentially devastating storm surge. Buses will be available beginning at 7 a.m. Monday at the Birdseye Municipal Complex and the South End Community Center to transport residents in need of a way to get to the shelter.

"Residents must take every precaution with what is expected to be a record storm surge," Harkins said.

Like in Stratford, Milford Mayor Ben Blake ordered a mandatory evacuation of low-lying and waterfront areas.

The city hosted about 100 people in the its shelter at Jonathan Law High School. No power outages had been reported in Milford, said Lt. Vaughan Dumas, spokesman for the city Emergency Operations Center, as of 8 a.m.

The search for a boater missing off of Charles Island has been suspended with the storm moving in, Dumas said. Whether to resume the search "will be evaluated after this thing passes," he said.

The kayaker, a 21-year-old man, was on the water with another 21-year-old man when they became distressed, requiring rescue, around 9:30 a.m. Sunday. One of the men was able to cling to his kayak and was pulled into a rescue boat. He was taken to Milford Hospital to be treated for hypothermia. His condition wasn't immediately available Monday morning. Neither man was wearing a personal flotation device. The men haven't been identified yet. The Coast Guard assisted in the search and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection are leading the incident.

Fairfield officials ordered a mandatory evacuation of all residents who live below the Old Post/Oldfield Road.

A shelter has been opened at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, which can accommodate about 400 to 500 people, and First Selectman Michael Tetreau said, if necessary, Fairfield Warde High School will be opened as a second shelter as well.

"If you flooded before, you will flood again," Police Chief Gary MacNamara said. "If you came close to flooding (in Tropical Storm Irene), you will flood this time."

Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst didn't order any mandatory evacuations, but recommended evacuation for about 300 residents in low-lying areas in the souther part of the town, near the Pequonnock River.

In the Naugatuck Valley, where overflowing rivers and rising water in Lake Housatonic and Lake Zoar pose risks, residents in low-lying areas were urged by town officials to evacuate.