UPDATE Thursday, 8:00pm:
Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is ordering a partial activation of the State of CT Emergency Operations Center beginning at 6:00 am on Friday to monitor Tropical Storm Elsa as it is anticipated to impact the state around mid-morning.
During a severe weather briefing on Thursday afternoon, Governor Ned Lamont held a news briefing at the State of CT Emergency Operations Center in Hartford to discuss the state’s preparedness efforts in advance of Tropical Storm Elsa, which is anticipated to impact the region on Friday morning.
“First and foremost, charge your phone,” he said. “This could go on for a while longer. If you don’t have a couple days supply of food, get four days supply of food so you’re ready.”
He said Elsa should be less severe than Isaias, both in terms of wind and flood damage.
“We better be a lot better prepared than last time,” he said.
Lamont said new PURA rules went into effect on July 1.
“Those PURA rules are very clear in terms of fines in place if power is not restored within 96 hours. They’re pretty clear in terms of extra capacity for communications for our utilities – Eversource and UI – to make sure if you have questions they an be answered on a real time basis.”
UPDATE, Thursday 2:30pm: According to Eversource’s Craig Hallstrom, Electric Operations President, “We have hundreds of crews – including out-of-state crews that continue to arrive – ready to respond to any damage or outages this storm may cause. Since last week, we’ve been checking supplies and preparing. Now we’re prepositioning crews and equipment based on the latest storm information available and we’ll adjust our approach if necessary. Trees are the number one cause of outages and winds of 35-45 mph are expected with this storm and will bring down limbs and branches onto electric lines so we encourage our customers to be prepared for outages as well.”
The Town of Greenwich is monitoring the track of Tropical Storm Elsa. The town’s Emergency Operations Center is ready to be fully activated to address any storm emergencies.
The National Weather Service said a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for most of Southeast Connecticut and Long Island.
Expect heavy rain after 2:00pm on Thursday with a chance of thunderstorms, heavy rain in the overnight hours through Friday, and chance of showers on Friday night.
Elsa is forecast to track northeast, inland through the Mid Atlantic states Thursday, and then off the New Jersey coast and near or over the Tri-State coast Friday morning.
A period of heavy rain, rough marine and surf conditions, and dangerous rip currents are expected Thursday afternoon into Friday Afternoon.
A period of tropical storm force winds is possible across Long Island and Southeast Connect late Thursday night and Friday morning.
A brief period of south to southeast winds of 35 to 40 mph with gusts to 50 mph are possible for portions of Long Island and possibly Southeast CT late Thursday night and into Friday morning. The most likely time of arrival of weak Tropical Storm Force Winds for Long Island and Southeast CT is early Friday Morning.
Expected Storm total rainfall: Storm Total rainfall forecast of 1 to 3 inches, with locally higher amounts, likely tonight through Friday Afternoon. Heaviest amounts from NYC metro and points N, NW and NE. Most of this rainfall will occur during the 2:00 am to 12:00pm on Friday.
The good news is that the forecast for Saturday is mostly sunny, then a slight chance of thunderstorms, and a high of 82°.
