Strong winds take out trees and power

PRESTON, Conn. (WTNH) - A mess is left in Preston after heavy winds took down trees and power.

Town crews have taken over the clean up on Middle Road after high winds knocked out five trees that took out power as they fell.

Ken Sharkey lives three houses down from where the trees fell Friday morning.

"It was a large snap and crack, and that's when we noticed we lost power," said Sharkey.

Sharkey said the wires are kept clear, but the trees fell from the other side of the street.

"It was a large tree that was embedded in the ledge, and when it came down, it took four other large ones down with it," said road foreman, Bob Boyd.

Connecticut Light and Power quickly sent out tree crews after cutting out power. Boyd said his crews work closely with CL&P's tree coordinator to try to prevent power outages caused by high wind gusts.

"She gives us crews, and we've done a lot of work in the past few months to no cost to the town," said Boyd. "A lot of this stuff is on private property, so we do what we can do on our property, but again a lot of the people don't like trees cut."

In Preston town crews can't touch any trees that are on private property unless they have the owner's permission.  Boyd told News 8 that he has been working with CL&P who has been offering free tree removal for the past several weeks in hopes to avoid more power outage problems.