High Winds Cause Power Outages, School Closings and Delays

High winds and rain overnight have knocked out power to nearly 65,000 CL&P customers throughout the state and more than 10,000 United Illuminating customers.

In East Hampton, 11 percent of the town is without power, which is 678 households and businesses. In Portland, 13 percent of the town, or 626 power customers, are in the dark this morning, according to CL&P. Because of the bad weather East Hampton schools are on two-hour delay this morning. In Portland, schools are closed today.

High winds across the state last night brought down trees and power lines. While most towns are experiencing outages affecting 10 percent or less of their populations, some are reporting outages of more than 40 percent, including Montville and Salem.

In East Hartford emergency crews are responding to a report of power lines that fell on a school bus full of children, television station WFSB is reporting.

Winds began to pickup overnight, with gusts of more than 60 MPH reported in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. The agency two days ago issued a high wind warning for Wednesday night into this morning and is still reporting that sustained winds of 40 MPH are occurring in many parts of the state and that gusts of up to 60 MPH are still possible through 9 a.m.

You can view CL&P's outage map here.

As of 7:30 a.m. today United Illuminating was reporting that 10,333 of its customers were without power, including nearly 2,000 in North Branford and more than 570 in Hamden.