Storm sparks fire in Cromwell

CROMWELL, Conn. (WTNH) -- Storms swept the state leaving behind outages, debris, and headaches for thousands.

Wednesday night CL&P crews were still out working to get power back on for 10,000 people who were still in the dark. That number was way down from the 35,000 customers who were without power at the height of the storm.

News 8's Stephanie Simoni was in Cromwell, one of the hardest hit areas, where more than 4,000 CL&P customers or 60 percent lost power from the storm. Thirty percent of folks were still without power Wednesday night.

Clean up will most likely continue for several days and possibly weeks as many homes took a hit by trees, but it was minutes after the storm where local authorities were most busy responding.

Smoke billowed from the Cromwell Growers as a fire thrived out of one of their trucks.

"Thank god it's only one truck," said Chris Cybulski, horticulturist at Cromwell Growers, "see how many trucks are in a line."

He says it sparked minutes after the storm did some damage.

"It was very powerful, lots of twisting winds," said Cybulski, "we lost some vents, we lost some glass."

Down the street, they lost a tree.

"It's irreplaceable, it's why I bought the house," said Mark Salamacha. "One of the reasons I bought the house."

He says it's at least 200 years old.

"This was kind of my wife's crown and glory, the tree and the garden," said Salamacha. "I don't know. It's sad."

It's also sad for his neighbor who now has branches through their windows.

"What do you think your neighbor is going to say when they come home and see that," asked News 8's Stephanie Simoni.

"I don't know," said Salamacha. "I hope they don't hold it against us."

The Donohue's are also dealing with a toppled tree, only their tree hit the roof before it dropped down.

"I was upstairs and I heard the tree go," said Lois Donohue, "down around the house...it made a big bang and there it was."

They say winds whipped around their home and across the town. You saw closed roads from debris, plummeted power lines, and neighbors starting to clean up.

"The air was hurricane like, very warm, extremely wet, but so localized, it doesn't count," said Richard Donohue.