Shelter provides residents with food, showers following surprise blizzard

KENT — “People in town have pulled together to help everyone get through the aftermath of the freak early snowstorm,” reported First Selectman Bruce Adams on Tuesday morning.The Kent Senior Nutrition Center was open as a shelter for those needing a warm place to sleep due to power outages throughout the area. Adams said between five and 10 residents sought shelter at the center following the Saturday snowstorm.The center is providing three meals a day to those in attendance. Local businesses donated some of the food and the town purchased some of the items.Adams said he received a phone call at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, that power would be restored to the Bull’s Bridge substation later that day. Adams was told that substation serves about 5,000 people.“However, I do not know how many of those are in Kent,” he said.Adams also said it has been difficult getting useful answers from Connecticut Light & Power.Kent Emergency Management Director Tony Amon found a trailer, usually used in toxic cleanup emergencies, which is being brought to town for residents to use for showering.The shower trailer will be set up at the firehouse and will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Kent residents will have to bring their own shower shoes, soap and towels.According to Amon, CL&P had said their goal was to have all substations serving Kent up and running by the end of Tuesday, Nov. 2. “However, that does not mean all residents will have power by that time,” Amon stressed. “Getting the substations running is only the first step in a long process. Transmission lines will still have to be rebuilt to neighborhoods and individual homes and businesses.”

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