Malloy tours shoreline damaged by Sandy

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Three deaths in Connecticut have been blamed on the superstorm Sandy. Gov. Dannel Malloy spent part of his day Wednesday touring damaged areas along the Connecticut shoreline.

The third death was in Milford, where the body of a swimmer was found washed ashore. 34-year-old Brian Bakunas of Milford was last seen swimming near Walnut Beach Monday night. He vanished in the heavy surf churned up by Sandy.

Also killed in the storm were a firefighter from Easton and a woman from Mansfield. Both died when tree branches fell on vehicles.

This afternoon the governor has been touring shoreline cities and towns to an up-close look at the damage caused by Sandy.  His stop in Greenwich included one of four houses that were destroyed by fire.

"We took a big hit over the past few days," the governor said at his morning news conference.

Before his morning briefing the governor lifted the ban on travel on state highways, and he said "transit service is being restored as best it can."

Connecticut Light & Power said it lost 11 transmission lines during the storm, and they will begin doing damage assessments today, CL&P vice president Bill Quinlan said. Estimates of when service will be restored will come later, he said.

Tony Marone, senior vice president for United Illuminating, said one sub-station that was powered down to protect it from damage from flooding has already been re-energized, and could be back online for customers today.

Metro-North service remains suspended while rail inspectors search the line for any damage.

At a Tuesday evening press conference, Governor Malloy said that those living right on the water "listened better than ever" in terms of evacuating and that he believes many learned their lesson from Irene.

At the presser, the Governor also told the public that all state employees are to report to work Wednesday and that four shoreline counties have been declared disaster areas by the federal government.

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) --With one more high-tide cycle left to deal with, Connecticut residents can begin assessing and repairing the damage from Sandy, Tragically, two people have died from the storm.

Hundreds of thousands of customers lost power across the state. Others lost property to either flooding or fire.

An Easton firefighter and a person from Mansfield died when trees fell on their vehicles.

In Old Saybrook, two homes in Chalker Beach were destroyed by fire. "The Fire Dept was unable to extinguish the fire as the homes were in an area flooded by several feet of water," Chief JT Dunn said in a statement. A firefighting vehicle lost some of its electrical systems trying to get to the fire to check for anyone who didn't evacuate.

In Greenwich, authorities said four multi-million dollar homes along Binney Lane in the Old Greenwich went up in flames Monday night. Officials at the Emergency Operations Center told News 8 the weather played a factor with 80 mph winds fanning the flames.

At 3:00 a.m., Connecticut Light & Power reported more than 484,000 outages. United Illuminating reported 144,000 outages. Two substations in Bridgeport had to be turned off to protect them from damage.

At a news conference Monday night Gov. Dannel Malloy told residents that if their homes are surrounded by water they need to stay put and move to a higher spot in the home.

"Let's be very clear; if your house is surrounded by water your best and safest option at this time is to remain in that house and move to a higher level of the house," Gov. Malloy said. "That's what we're telling people, including if you're in a one-level house, potentially moving to the roof of the house. This is a rather Katrina-like warning that we are issuing to people that did not take the advise that was given to them earlier in this crisis."