A tornado and windstorm that barreled through the Hamden region last Thursday left Quinnipiac University students in the dark just days into an already bizarre semester, forcing the administration to make on-the-fly adjustments.
It took United Illuminating three days to fully restore power to the Mount Carmel campus after tornadoes and 100 mph straight-line winds on Aug. 27 snapped trees that fell onto power lines leading into the campus. Many utility poles were knocked down by the winds, too.
The storm shut down major highways such as Route 15 and secondary roads as trees blocked passage. UI reported that almost 20,000 customers lost power, mostly in Hamden, North Haven and North Branford. Quinnipiac University canceled classes for Aug. 28 since much of the campus did not have power.
The storm hit Hamden at 4:03 p.m. and lasted for just 12 minutes but caused damage that will persist for some time as crews scramble to remove downed trees and repair roofs, windows and other damage to more than 30 homes.
“I left a buddy’s house who lives about five minutes away,” said Chris Pusterla, of Hamden. “It took me over an hour to get home since Evergreen was shut down and I couldn’t get home. I had to take a massive look that took me all the way around the One Evergreen building that had damage, and there was bumper to bumper traffic everywhere.”
K&J Tree Service, of Hamden, Connecticut, and similar companies have been working deep into the night over the past week to clear roads and remove trees from houses and driveways.
The downtown area in Hamden was hit particularly hard, with several trees reported downed along Dixwell Avenue and Whitney Avenue. Ridge Road was closed for multiple days. Mayor Curt Leng announced that there had been reports of roofs being lifted off of houses in Hamden. Hamden police also warned that Dixwell Avenue suffered flooding in the area of Sanford Street and Shepard Avenue. Skiff Street also flooded.
The storm was the second in three weeks to knock out power for tens of thousands of residents. The majority of residents in New Haven County use UI, while the rest of the state primarily uses Eversource, which had come under fire the week before the tropical storm because they had sharply increased many customers’ rates without giving those customers explicit notice.
Hamden town officials described the storm as “extremely destructive” and reminiscent of the May 2018 tornado that leveled a large section of Quinnipiac’s Pine Grove forest on the Mount Carmel Campus. The 2018 event also forced state officials to close Sleeping Giant State Park across the street from QU for more than a year.
The storm’s damage to Hamden did not reach the levels of the 2018 tornado or the tornado in 1989 that is part of town history for its ferocious winds and devastating path of destruction.
Jan Smith, a Hamden resident and a UI customer for more than 40 years, praised the utility for its response.
“We’ve been using UI for over 40 years, and we’ve never had a problem with them,” said Smith. “Any time that we’ve lost power, they’ve been out to restore it within a reasonable amount of time.”
These power outages also affected Quinnipiac students, who had just started online classes for the semester only four days before the storm hit. Because of COVID-19, most students opened the semester with remote classes, depending on laptops, phones and internet services to attend lectures via Zoom, to communicate with classmates or professors, and to complete and submit assignments through Blackboard, Flipgrid and other services.
The university canceled classes on Friday because some buildings on campus remained without power and many students and professors were also in the dark in Hamden and nearby towns.without power. Some streets were blocked with downed trees as crews struggled to clear the storm debris.
Derek Perone, a third-year computer information systems major from Wilton, Connecticut, agreed with the decision to cancel classes. He said that professors worked with students to make up for lessons lost to the storm and for adjusting to remote teaching for the first two weeks of classes.
“Definitely the university cancelling classes on Friday was a smart and helpful move I believe,” said Perone. “I’m grateful to have caring professors reaching out to the class when storms bring power outages like that.”
Nate Latina, a second-year computer information systems major from Middletown, Connecticut, echoed Perone’s remarks.
“A lot of my professors have been very good about providing accommodations,” said Latina. “Some students lost power, others are still having connection problems. Everybody’s been pretty accommodating.”
Latina added that generator power helped to soften the blow, although generators were not installed in every residence hall.
“All the generators were on in my building, although some of the dorms who were renovated don’t have generators,” said Latina. “I think they did a good job of getting the power back on quickly.”
James Miskiewicz, a senior psychology major from Norwich, Connecticut, said the events of the past few days have led him to realize that an over-reliance on the internet for education can lead to unintended consequences.
“With everything being so tethered to the Internet, it made me realize how vulnerable and susceptible we are to technical difficulties. That could really ruin the semester if anything else happens,” Miskiewicz said.
(With additional reporting by Matthew Nygaard)