Sunday's Storm Updates for Meriden

5:34 p.m.

Following a 4 p.m. meeting with department heads on Sunday, the city's Emergency Operations Center in the Meriden Police Department closed. The city also closed its shelter at Washington Middle School at that time.

City crews are now working to clear trees in the city's first priority roadways: on West Main Street at Gravelyn Avenue, and Oregon Road. The two are main thoroughfares, important for police, fire or EMT vehicles. Fallen trees in both locations snapped power lines, leaving live wires on the roads. Though power may not be restored to those lines, clearing is most important at this point, Bowen said.

Otherwise, there were about 30 reported locations of downed wires throughout the city, Meriden Police said at the meeting.

Tomorrow, officals will start assessing damage to the city – buildings damaged by trees, flooding.

Though power is out to about half of Meriden Sunday, trees are down, and some damage has been done to homes, no storm-related injuries were reported, (Police say .) and officials all exprssed the sentiment that it could have been a lot worse.

2:58 p.m.

The Cerasale family is cutting away branches nearest its windows from a massive tree in their front yard that partially uprooted and fell on their house at 115 Eaton Ave. (Video to come) The tree's branches pierced the front porch and hit another tree that in turn took out the family's pool, according to Pat Cerasale, but didn't even break a window. She heard the crash at about 7:45 a.m. Sunday.

"We thought it was in the back, we were totally surprised when it was in the front," Pat Cerasale said, standing in front of a the tree's root system, which is much taller than her.

"You would think that the dead tree would be the one to go down," she said, pointing to a dead tree not far from her home that was still upright, and mentioning that the tree that fell was healthy.

She said that her house was habitable, and that she had to wait for her insurance company to come out before the family could begin to remove anything but branches near windows.

2:01 p.m.

A large tree continues to block West Main Street at Graveline Ave. near Maloney's Pub on the city's West Side. (See Photo) Live power lines are on the ground. The section is surrounded by police tape - Meriden police warned a group of residents walking near the tree to stay away from the area.

12:57 p.m.

Residents on the stretch of Parker Avenue between Liberty and East Main Streets are waiting for CL&P and the city to clean up large tree that cracked at around 10 a.m. from high winds and fix the power lines it took with it. Homes in the area are without electricity.

The tree (see photo) caused visible damage to part of the home's roof. Snapped power lines lie on the ground underneath it. The area around the tree and lines has been cordoned off with police tape by emergency responders.

Amy Lukasik and Clayton Bacchus live across the street and said part of the tree had broken during a previous storm, but had fallen away from the house.

Standing on their front porch, the two have been watching cars approach the area and then turn around, apparently not seeing the tape from down the streeet.

"Somebody's going to get killed," Bacchus said, and moved a trash can in front of the scene, hoping drivers would see it before they started coming through.

The two are worried about other trees of the same age that are on their block and heavier tailwinds from Irene that forecasters say could be heading our way.

"It's been loud all morning. It's just been crack, crack, crack," Lukasik said.

"Look at what that little wind did to that tree," Bacchus said. 

11:49 a.m.

Families are keeping themselves occupied eating snacks and playing cards and other games in the cafeteria deep inside Washington Middle School – the city's shelter – as the rain beats down and the wind continues to whip around the school.

Twenty three people signed into the shelter at some point Saturday night, and one family has reportedly left, though officials did not confirm current numbers. Denise Keating, who is currently heading the shelter, asked a reporter not to speak to families to protect their privacy.

The shelter has 100 cots set up. Mike Pirro of the Meriden Health Department said he didn't expect more people to come out with the storm tapering off.

11:17 a.m.

Irene may be passing, but winds are still fierce out here at Washington Middle School. Streetlights are out at Broad and East Main Street, Onramp to I-91 off of Broad Street as well.

10:48 a.m.

Officers are waiting for a break in the weather to restart the search for a missing woman in Hubbard Park

10:45 a.m.

A "good-sized" tree has fallen on a home at 215 Eaton Ave according to Emergency Management Team.

10:34 a.m.

Meriden is seeing some flooding in expected places, but "we're doing fairly well considering what we had" said Emergency Management Co-Director David Bowen at the 10 a.m. department head meeting at the Emergency Operation Center.

The rain is getting lighter, Bowen said, but Irene could still hit us with tailwinds after the eye passes. Winds could take out more trees, branches and power lines.

The next Emergency Operations Meeting is 4 p.m. Officials are waiting to see if shelter can close tonight or will be open again Sunday overnight.

10:20 a.m.

Meriden Fire Department has had 24-26 calls for service since this morning.

10:16 a.m.

Meriden Police have officers working double shifts - close to 30 officers are on right now.

10:14 a.m.

City's shelter at Washington Middle School is up on generator power.

10:05 a.m.

The city's shelter at Washington Middle School has lost power.

9:32 a.m.

Street flooding at Hanover and Cook Streets and near Lincoln Middle School. See photos.

8:28 a.m.

Police are closing all of Hanover Street and also Cook Avenue near Hanover

8:26 a.m.

Intersection of West Main Street at Gravelyn Avenue is blocked by a downed pole and tree *** (We originally misheard and reported this as East Main and Gravel St.)

8:23 a.m.

Power is out at Engine 3 fire station on Broad Street and a large swath of Meriden's East Side. Fire station is using a generator.

8:05 a.m.

Reports of wires down at

• 67 Lynn Drive
• 2 Orchard Street
• 731 W. Main Street
• 34 Spruce Street

8:01 a.m.

There is half of a tree down on Brownstone Lisa Schroer Suzio wrote on Meriden Patch's Facebook Page. "Luckily landed across my neighbor's driveway, hitting nothing."

7:57 a.m.

Reader Michelle Elaine Kline near Dana Lane is reporting "lots of tree parts are flying around, but nothing down that I can see."

7:35 a.m.

Trees down on Allen Ave on West Side. Large branches down at Hillcrest Terrace on East side.

7:31 a.m.

Trees down, partial blockage of a lane at 278 Bradley Ave.

7:29 a.m.

Reports of wires down at

• 7 Webb Street
• 777 Curtis Street
• 58 Goodspeed Ave
• Forest Avenue at Prospect Avenue
• 55 Main Street
• 5 Lambert Ave
• 1454 North Colony Road

7:27 a.m.

4489 homes in Meriden without power - 16 percent of city

7:09 a.m.

Reader Laurie Nissenson Arnold reported that a tree fell in her neighbor's pool on Stephen Dr. on the city's East Side. She said she was not aware of any related injuries.

7:05 a.m.

Merritt, Wilbur Cross Parkway Closed, Tractor Trailer Ban As of 7am

"The storm is beginning to make its way through the state, and there is absolutely no reason to be out on the roads" said Gov. Dannel Malloy in a statement Sunday. "There are substantial concerns about driver safety and we need to keepthe roads clear for emergency personnel."

6:58 a.m.

Possible fire at 868 Paddock Avenue after reports of a tree falling into a house there and "Odor of smoke in the area."

6:40 a.m.

Meriden fire is responding to a call of a branch that has hit power lines in front of Sterling Village Condos, 560 Yale Ave. The branch is reportedly on fire.

Original Story

Calls of downed wires and trees are rolling steadily into Meriden's Emergency Operations Center at the Meriden Police Station Sunday morning. Keep up with this story for the latest updates.

Want more news from Meriden Patch? Follow us on Twitter, and "like" us on Facebook.