Hurricane Irene caused widespread damage throughout the region with hundreds of trees and powerlines down. The large fir tree outside the Ivoryton Playhouse was snapped near the base and fell towards the Playhouse but fortunately did no serious damage.
Thousands of local residents are without power and authorities are predicting this could continue for several more days. The majority of properties in Essex, Chester, Deep River and Old Lyme lost power and so far relatively few have had their power restored. In Essex the area around Plains Road now has power, as does a small section of Boston Post Road in Old Lyme. According to CL&P at 5 p.m. Monday percentages of properties without power are as follows: Chester 100%, Deep River 91%, Essex 80%, Old Saybrook 90%, Old Lyme 86% and Lyme 98%.
The large number of trees which have fallen onto overhead power lines make the clean-up job even more time-consuming.