“Jack Frost Is Our Best Policeman”

Heavy trucks pushed mounds of snow off Branford’s streets in the aftermath of the Blizzard of 2013 as efforts got underway to open at least parts of all roads in town by nightfall. All Branford Schools are closed Monday.

First Selectman Anthony ​“Unk” DaRos said in an interview that he is expecting all the roads to be open by nightfall. If they are not ​“the crews will stay on until it gets done.” They are all over town. But they are slower moving machines. So it will take some time,” he said. 

On Sunday morning, heavy equipment was at work. Here, a Caterpillar payloader clears Kellycrest Road. 

In another development, it became clear today that police communications from DaRos to residents regarding storm updates experienced glitches across town. The town’s emergency ​“B‑informed” 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. Asked to click to hear the message today, and the message goes dead. Some residents have not received B‑informed messages since Friday. In addition, the B‑Informed system was in trouble leaving texts to smart phones. DaRos said he would investigate. 

DaRos said late today that all garbage collection scheduled for Monday was cancelled and the town shelter at the Community House has been closed because power has been restored throughout the town.

There will be no parking on Main St between Ivy and Laurel Streets, he said, starting at 5 a.m. Monday until 6 p.m. in order to allow a convoy of trucks to haul away heavy accumulations of snow. Here is Main St. late today.

DaRos told the Eagle the town contracted with six more payloaders, bringing the number on the road to 10 or 11, including smaller payloaders. The public works department encountered severe weather conditions when trucks took the road during the blinding blizzard Friday night.

“It was coming down five inches an hour Friday night. They could do very little except clear for emergency vehicles, if that,” he said. Because snow fell so fast Friday night, the town had to ditch its plan to plow continuously. Instead, it dug out all sorts of official vehicles that got stuck on roads. After working 30 plus hours, public works crew were sent home last night for a night’s sleep. They were back this morning. 

Residents were doing their part, they said. 

Capt. Geoffrey Morgan, who is heading the emergency operation for the police department, said ​“our intent is to touch every road in town today with a plow ​”It may not be perfect, he said, but it will be a start.”

Crime, he said, was down on his radar. ​“Jack Frost is our best policeman.”

If the town’s roads are opened for passage by tonight, DaRos said he will shift the loaders to the center of town in the morning so that snow may be removed from sidewalks near businesses. The snow will be dumped at various places in town, DaRos said. ​“The last storm we were informed we could dump the snow in the rivers but we haven’t heard we can this time.”

Governor Dannel P. Malloy lifted the road ban yesterday at 4 p.m. but the major highways near Branford were in a crawl today. They were difficult to drive as were secondary roads. The governor also announced today that President Obama has declared Connecticut in a state of emergency which will allow immediate federal funds and federal manpower to help in the recovery. 

“This declaration will provide much needed assistance to the state and our towns and cities as we continue to recover from this historic winter storm,” Malloy said in an announcement. ​“While the ban on travel has been lifted, we are continuing to urge residents to stay off the roads, if at all possible. This is particularly true for tractor trailers. Every time someone gets stuck, it is preventing plows from doing their jobs.”

As Branford residents took to their shovels to clear a path and get their cars free of snow, it appeared that they might have take a deep breath because I‑95 had only one lane open and many streets in town were still impassable.

It might well take days before vehicles are right side up and the town is up and fully functioning, if then.

Mostly people were trying to adapt to life with cars and malls. For some it was frustrating so they took to the streets for an invigorating walk. Or they took in the new scenes around them.

Others said they were having a hard time coping but this time around the power was on and so was access to television, radio and the internet. So they tried to handle the unusual experience of staying home. For some it was easy. 

Bob Babcock who lives in Stony Creek said he and his wife Maryann were happy for some down time. ​“We just changed some light bulbs that needed to be changed, caught up on some house work, wrote a few notes to people we have not written notes. My wife is watering all her plants. Frustration? None. And we have the comfort of our own home and it is a beautiful view. Yes, it is an inconvenience, but when you have lemons, you make lemonade.” 

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