Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Esty tour storm damage

<p>Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Elizabeth Esty spent Sunday touring some of the worst-hit towns from last week's ferocious storms.</p>

News 12 Staff

May 20, 2018, 11:18 AM

Updated 2,179 days ago

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Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Elizabeth Esty spent Sunday touring some of the worst-hit towns from last week's ferocious storms.
Blumenthal and Esty spoke with residents and documented the destruction to take with them to Washington, D.C. to push for funding.
The two traveled around Brookfield with First Selectman Stephen Dunn.
Dunn says they've already spent over $300,000 cleaning up and estimates they'll need over $2 million to return to normalcy.
The lawmakers also headed to New Fairfield to survey the damage there and meet with First Selectman Pat Del Monaco at the Emergency Operations Center.
"My heart broke when I saw people' homes destroyed, power down, roads blocked, and that kind of devastation requires fair relief, that's all we will ask," says Blumenthal.
"It's very real devastation," says Esty. "And it came without warning. That's one of the issues we're going to have to look at planning in the future."
Eversource says the storm caused more damage across the state than Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The highest winds Sandy mustered were 85 mph, while Tuesday's storm saw 110 mph winds.
Nearly 1,700 poles were broken during Sandy, while Tuesday had over 100 more. Superstorm Sandy also downed 105 miles of power lines, but Tuesday's storm brought down 288 miles worth of lines -- and that's twice the length of the state of Connecticut.


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