Gov. Malloy: Top Off Your Tanks, Sandy’s Coming

From Jon Lender:

Flanked by emergency preparedness personnel and ultility company executives, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told reporters outside his Capitol office that the hurricane could make landfall in New Jersey Tuesday morning, but as early as Sunday night could bring significant effects to Connecticut. A direct hit in New Jersey could put this state on the “strong side” of the storm’s winds, he said, like a prolonged “Nor’easter,” he said.

Malloy, who met at noon Friday with the officials and utility representatives, said he has been getting better assurances from utility companies “than I’ve ever received before” about preparedness.

“We’re obviously taking this very seriously,” said William Quinlan, a Connecticut Light and Power Co. He said his company has been reaching largely “to the Midwest” to enlist extra work crews in advance to make repairs. It’s a “challenge” to get commitments from companies to the south, for now, because they are holding crews to see if the storm will hit their areas, Quinlan said.

He said he’s been working for the past year to incorporate “lessons learned” from last year’s disastrous response to two major storms.

Quinlan said his company is in the process of getting commitments for 2,000 out-of-state utility workers to supplement CL&P’s 400 linemen. They would be getting here as early as Sunday, he said.

Malloy said officials are planning for a 36-hour-long storm that could dump 7 to 14 inches of rain. “Flash flooding is a real possibility” in a storm spanning such “an elongated period of time,” he said. Storm Irene came and went in 12 hours in 2011, officials said.