On Saturday, October 29, 2011, Simsbury (along with a number of other towns in Connecticut and western Massachusetts) got hit by a freak Nor'easter that dumped 12.6" of very wet and sticky snow on the region. Because of the timing of this storm, most of the leaves were still on the trees, giving the wet, sticky, heavy snow plenty of surface area to cling to. As a result, there was devastating damage in the hardest hit towns because of the number of trees, limbs, branches, etc. that were brought down by the weight of snow on the nearly fully foliaged trees.
The snow started to fall shortly after noon as a few flurries, but we went into the afternoon it started to come down heavier and heavier, and by 3:00pm the roads were already starting to get treacherous. We lost power at around 3:30pm or so. Little did we know how long the power outage was going to last!
Outside the garage, 1:30pm.
Outside the garage, 2:30pm.
As the afternoon went on into the evening, the snow just seemed to intensify. With no power, we also had no heat and no running water in the house. Not a whole lot to do but ride the storm out. Sometime in the evening, maybe around 10:00pm or so, we heard a fairly loud cracking sound just outside the back of the house. I grabbed a flashlight and looked out the windows to find that some of the limbs of our weeping cherry tree had come down on the deck. Opening up the bathroom window from the master bedroom, I could see the tree and that the falling limbs had just narrowly missed the house. Also, while the window was open, I could hear the cracking of falling trees and limbs all over the place. It sounded like gunfire, but not from any single direction. It was coming from everywhere.
8:30pm - Our only source of light and heat in the house
Eventually, there was nothing else to do but to go to bed. All night long, we continued to hear cracking sounds from all over the place.
Sunday morning, I was the first one up. Leaving the bedroom, the first thing I did was look out the window from the upstairs hallway to survey the situation. The sun had just risen, and the skies were clear. But the yard was nothing but a blueish white hue from all the snow. All 12.6" that had fallen. Looking out the window, I could see a number of broken trees and fallen limbs around the perimeter of the yard. From that window, I really couldn't see much of the driveway, so I had no idea what was going to actually greet me once I went outside.
The first views Sunday morning from the upstairs hallway window
After a brief walkthrough of the house to make sure there was no apparent damage, I went out to the garage and lifted up the garage door to take a closer peek outside. Wow! There was a lot of snow. I also could tell that our driveway was in pretty bad shape, there were a lot of trees hanging down low over the driveway, as well as some fallen branches across the driveway. At this point, I knew I needed to go outside and check things out up close.
The view from the garage
I went back inside and suited up: snowpants, jacked, gloves, hat, boots, etc. I also grabbed Maria's camera because I had a feeling that this was something unprecedented in our 15 years in our house, and needed to be captured immediately for Maria's scrapbook. What I found is documented in the photos below.
The basketball hoops in the driveway. Note the large limb that came down just behind them.
The back of the house. You can see the weeping cherry tree that came down onto the deck.
Another view from just outside the garage, looking west towards the front of our property.
Broken trees along the western perimeter of the yard.
This limb was not completely broken off, but was hanging partially into the driveway. The break was around 20' high.
Walking down the driveway. Nothing could drive through this.
Smaller branches blocking the driveway.
A big limb blocking the driveway.
An even bigger limb, hanging down into the yard.
Near the bottom of the driveway, looking down towards the street. Completely blocked.
Another view from the bottom of the driveway, looking out towards the street.
Looking up to the entrace of our driveway from the street.
Looking north up Highwood
Looking south down Highwood
The street sign at the corner of Highwood and King Phillip. This is the corner of our property.
This tree was hanging low from our property over the road on King Phillip. It bounced back up once the snow melted.
This tree was from our neighbor's property on King Phillip. It was completely blocking the road.
A little further up the street, a very large oak had almost completely uprooted and was also blocking King Phillip.
Two views of our weeping cherry tree on the deck, taken from in the family room.
In the end . . . we were without power in our neighborhood until November 7, 2011. It came back just before 7:00pm. A total of around 9 days and 4 1/2 hours. All the snow had melted before we got power back. All of it. Every last bit of snow. The entire town of Simsbury was out for approximately 72 hours before the first customers got their power back, and I know of some folks in the hardest hit neighborhoods who were out for a full 13 days. The National Guard was even called in to help clear the roads because many roads were still blocked five, six, even nine days after the storm hit. Not to mention the downed power and telephone lines that were all over town. I must have driven under dozens of trees during that time that were leaning over the roads and being held up by lines that had not yet fallen, and I must have also driven over dozens of downed wires at the same time. Halloween was cancelled by the town and rescheduled to November 10. Schools were closed for nearly a week and a half, and did not reopen until Wednesday, November 9.
A typical view of Simsbury, two days after the storm
On the ninth day, utility crews from Pennsylvania showed up in our neighborhood to turn the power on
All in all . . . a story we will never forget, but one we hope that we never have to relive.
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