Enduring Storm Jonas

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By Bill Slocum
Contributing Editor

Simone Becker photo
Simone Becker photo

Greenwich got its first serious seasonal test as Winter Storm Jonas delivered a daylong blizzard Saturday, the town emerging Monday ready for work and school.

Town Highway Superintendent Joe Roberto said over a foot of snow had accumulated locally by late Saturday night, well above expectations. He called it “a good sock in the jaw.”

“The snow came down at a rapid pace, then in intermittent waves on through the evening,” Roberto explained. “It never got to such an extent that we were overwhelmed. We were plowing with the storm. We were never behind it. When the snow stopped, late that night, we were able to do cleanup overnight.”

Department of Public Works road crews were augmented by Parks and Recreation Department personnel for the emergency. By Sunday afternoon, Roberto said, roads were “passable” throughout town.

Simone Becker photo
Simone Becker photo

It was a storm for the ages in other parts of the country; just 35 miles away, New York City was still digging itself out from nearly three feet of snow by midweek. In Greenwich, along the northern edge of Jonas’s wide path, conditions were less severe.

There was one casualty, a 36-year-old Stamford man riding a Connecticut Transit bus that crashed on Sound View Drive near Woodland Drive in central Greenwich. The bus driver had been trying to drive up an incline just before 8 a.m. on Saturday, as snow began to accumulate, when the vehicle slid backwards and crashed into a telephone pole. The man was taken to Stamford Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Some 40-50 residents in the surrounding neighborhood were left without electricity when the pole snapped, downing power lines.

There was no formal ban on driving in Greenwich on Saturday. Most residents followed the advice of First Selectman Peter Tesei to stay indoors.

“Traffic was very light,” reported Kraig Gray, public information officer of the Greenwich Police Department. “It made a difference, which on-duty patrol officers remarked on. People were staying off the roads.”

Old Greenwich resident Anne Gannon’s dog enjoyed his first time ever playing in snow.
Old Greenwich resident Anne Gannon’s dog enjoyed his first time ever playing in snow.

Because of that, emergency calls were fairly light. Other than the bus accident, three other minor storm-related motor-vehicle accidents were reported in town Saturday, all without injury. The Fire Department reported “higher than normal” accident volume over a three-day period related to the storm and its aftermath, but nothing unusual or serious.

The most significant issue other than the bus was a fallen tree on North Street, which shut down traffic and knocked out power temporarily to houses there.

“It was a normal storm as our responses go,” Assistant Fire Chief Robert Kick reported. “Fortunately we didn’t have any major snow before this event, which tends to make it tougher to move snow piles back. There was plenty of room to move snow out of the way.”

With snow-clearing efforts continuing through the week, and warmer weather coming in, the town was already close to normalcy by Wednesday. Gray credited the good timing of a weekend blizzard and a positive effort from the community. “The residents of Greenwich did a great job,” he said. “It made a big difference out there.”

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