October Snowstorm: South Windsor Residents Display Creativity in Face of Adversity

Many South Windsor employees and residents used their ingenuity to cope with the loss of power as a result of last year’s late October nor’easter.

Indeed, when the road leading to the town’s Street Services Division of the Department of Public Works building was blocked, employees decided to do a workaround. Literally.

Using gravel and sand, town workers built their own little detour around the felled trees on Burgess Road, according to Town Manager Matthew Galligan.

Residents also found unique ways to compensate for things like the possible cancellation of Halloween.

Resident Helga West bought candy and had her kids trick or treat in their home.

Helga West said that she was out of power for about nine days, and she had to come up with an innovative method for celebrating the holiday.

“I stood in bedrooms, bathroom, and coat closet, having them knock on every door,” West wrote on the South Windsor Patch Facebook page. “They still talk about it today.”

Others came up with interesting ways to cook, at least for the first couple of days before even that got old.

“The first night we thought it was cool to make spaghetti on the grill!” Susan Mazur wrote. “The coolness ended real soon and we ended up out to eat for the next 5 nights. We'd walk into the restaurant and say, ‘We're gonna be here awhile so I hope you don't mind!’ It was always a depressing ride home to a cold dark house! Good times!”

Others were fortunate enough not to lose power and had the role of providing, not seeking, shelter.

Andrea Balma Walsh housed her parents, aunt, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, nieces, their dog and a hamster!!).

“Between my family of five and our guests, it was quite cozy,” Balma Walsh wrote.

Not that it was entirely unpleasant.

“We ate like kings because our guests were emptying their freezers and [were] cooking for us (one of the perks of being the host!). We still celebrated Halloween in our neighborhood since we didn't have any downed power lines. So we were ok,” Balma Walsh said.

But, Walsh said, things got a little tense when her power went out for what turned out to be 24 hours.

“We thought they might have taken down our power to fix one of the other down lines, but realized within a few hours that it was more than that,” she wrote. “I still laugh thinking about my sister suggesting that we call CL&P about the situation. ‘Hi, CL&P - I know the whole state is without power, but we HAD power this whole time and now it's out. Can you help us?’”

Sheila Strong complimented Sal’s Pizza for its hospitality and sense of community.

“They fed me every day, lunch and dinner, let me charge my phone and allowed me to stay as long as I wanted to keep warm!” Strong wrote. “I volunteered a couple of days at the shelter that was at the high school too--what a well run, efficient and organized job there. Sal's Pizza even donated 25 pizzas to the shelter on Saturday evening even though they were working around the clock as they were one of the few businesses in town that was open.”

And while some people had a hard time of it, there were others who said that, in hindsight, they were actually fortunate to be without power.

“All in all I felt blessed by the entire event since I got to spend a solid week with my Mom before she passed away from breast cancer in December,” Sheila Strong wrote. “Things happen for a reason.”