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08/31/2020 12:00 AMThe National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down on Aug. 27, touching down in Bethany and tearing an 11.1-mile path all the way to North Haven. NWS reported wind speeds up to 110 miles per hour. The tornado broke up in North Haven, sending microbursts out to East Haven, Branford, North Branford, and Guilford.
The tornado caused massive destruction to trees and homes throughout town. While there was significant damage to property, nearly half the town was without power, and 56 roads were rendered impassable, there were no injuries reported.
First Selectman Mike Freda declared a state of emergency and the National Guard was deployed to help in the cleanup. On Aug. 28, Governor Ned Lamont, Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Senator Len Fasano, and UI representatives were among those who surveyed the damage with Freda.
“Yet again we were hit really hard and where we were hit was particularly intense,” Lamont stated. “There are a lot of outages, but fortunately it’s not nearly as extensive as a few weeks ago and we have the manpower here. The state is backing everyone up. This is an incredibly collaborative effort.”
The North Haven Emergency Operations Center was activated in an effort to manage hundreds of fire and police incidents. The Red Cross conducted assessments of homes and remains available to any residents in need.
“Today I toured the entire town to review the damage and wreckage,” Mike Freda posted to his Facebook page. “I saw homes, neighborhoods, and streets with a staggering amount of damage. In some cases, I spoke to residents who actually had trees fall into their homes.”
Freda noted that the town had a number of crews working to restore power, including 30 crews from Maine. The crews worked throughout the weekend to have power nearly fully restored.
“I thank you for your patience during this difficult time for our town, but we as a community will always prevail, and this government will not be satisfied until all of our residents are safe and are with power,” Freda stated.