Cleaning up after violent storms

Bristol, Conn. (WTNH) - Investigators from the National Weather Service are in Litchfield County to determine whether a tornado downed trees and damaged buildings yesterday.

The weather service has already determined that the storm damage in Westport was not the result of a tornado.

More than 14,000 customers of Connecticut Light & Power were without electricity as of 11:00 a.m. That's down from about 80,000 outages. A spokesperson for CL&P says nearly 200 crews are working to get everyone back on line.

On Blakeslee St in Bristol, the buzz of chainsaws were heard before 6:00 a.m. as tree crews worked to remove fallen trees and reopen the road. Parts of Route 229 in Southington near the ESPN complex were closed because of downed trees and wires.

A fallen tree also closed a lane of the Merritt Parkway between Exits 36 and 35 in Stamford Thursday morning.

The powerful storms that entered the state Wednesday afternoon triggered tornado warnings in multiple counties.

"As I was driving along West Street going to Burlington Ave it was like a lake. There was downed wires, garbage pails everywhere. You couldn't see," Jamie Perchiano told News 8. "Thank God as I went home my family was okay. It was like a war zone. It was just like mass destruction. Trees everywhere."

"I looked outside, it looked like it was about midnight, all of a sudden it sounded like a train was coming through the building," Lenny Nowak of Bristol said.

The storm ripped off roofs and awnings from buildings and uprooted trees which fell onto roads and homes, some tearing down electric lines in the process. CL&P has about 140 crews out working to restore electricity, and tree removal crews will have plenty of work to do throughout the day.

Weather service investigators will be looking at the damage in and around Litchfield, around Bristol, and possibly the damage around Wilton to see if it was caused by a tornado.