Hurricane Sandy: Half of Woodbridge, Bethany Without Power

More than 200,000 Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating customers are currently without power in the state, a number that may very well rise as Hurricane Sandy continues to hammer the region overnight.

Roughly every town in the state is seeing outages in some capacity, with the bulk of the power issues being seen in several coastal communities ranging from Branford to Stonington. Pockets of the state in the Quiet Corner and the Litchfield Hills are also in the dark.

In Bethany, CL&P reports that 51 percent - or 1,191 customers - are without electricity. United Illuminating says that 56 percent - or 2,050 customers - are without electricity. The numbers were reported at 8 p.m.

In total, about 14 percent of the state is without electricity, due to high winds and heavy rainfall from Sandy.

CL&P Spokesman Mitch Gross said that, despite the high winds, there are crews out working on emergency restoration efforts right now.

“We’re at work handling as many issues as we can, while it’s still safe,” Gross said.

Federal regulations require that utility workers not be in the air working on power lines when wind speeds hit 40 mph. But Gross said that, since winds haven’t hit that threshold as of yet, there still are trucks in the CL&P system out on the road.

Some workers have been pulled off the lines in certain areas of the state, such as parts of Litchfield County, due to higher winds, Gross said.