Governor Declares Emergency

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a “Declaration of Emergency” Thursday afternoon in anticipation of Hurricane Irene’s landfall, which is expected Sunday. 

According to a release issued by the governor’s office, the declaration gives Malloy broad powers to act during an emergency, including:

• The ability to order evacuations of all or part of the population of a stricken or threatened area and take necessary steps for receipt and care of evacuees
• The ability to modify or suspend any state statute, regulation, or requirement (for example: altering work hours, waiving licensing requirements, etc.)
• The ability to order civil preparedness forces into action
• The ability to designate vehicle and person routes and movements

“The forecast path of Hurricane Irene has convinced me that the signing of this declaration is necessary, and will help us react more quickly and effectively in the event of a serious weather event,” Malloy said in the release. “I will continue to work with state and local officials and authorities to ensure that our state is as prepared as possible for Hurricane Irene, and can react as efficiently as possible on behalf of our residents.”

Just before 7 p.m. Thursday, Malloy also announced that state campgrounds would close at noon Saturday and state parks would close at nighfall that night because of the impending storm. The parks and campgrounds will remain closed until further notice.

Campers are eligible for full refunds for nights they are not able to use their reservations. Information on how to get a refund is available at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's website.

“We know that many families have reserved camp sites for this weekend and have been looking forward to spending time with families and friends. This storm, however, looks like it is going to impact the entire state,” DEEP Commissioner Daniel C. Esty said.  “Given the latest information available, closing our parks and campgrounds is the safe thing to do.”

Earlier on Friday, Malloy’s office launched a website to keep state residents up-to-date on the hurricane’s potential track and the administration’s public-safety efforts. All state agencies have a link to the site on their homepages. 

The governor also urged residents to sign up for the CT Alert email and text-message emergency notification system. 

“I’m committed to keeping residents up-to-date about our state’s preparations, and in the case of an evacuation or other event, we’ll make sure people know where to go, and when,” Malloy said. “More information is better than less in these types of situations, and I’m encouraging all Connecticut residents to take a moment to consider their situation, and what they need to do to prepare.”

Malloy said that the predictions about the storm that Connecticut have received thus far forecast Irene will hit the state sometime Saturday afternoon and continue through Sunday, dropping as much as 10 inches of rain on parts of Connecticut, with as much as six to seven of those inches falling over a short period of time. He said residents who live in low-lying areas of the state should be prepared for flooding and possible evacuations.

“If I lived in a low-lying area that has ever been evacuated before, I would certainly assume that at some point we would issue an order of evacuation,” Malloy told reporters at a press conference Thursday afternoon at the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Hartford “…We’ll watch, we’ll track, we certainly don’t want to disrupt anything that we don’t have to, but we are prepared to move quickly and early should the predictions that we’re currently operating under arise.”

Malloy said he would next brief the media on Hurricane Irene and Connecticut’s preparedness for the storm at noon Friday, but that all officers of the Connecticut State Police had been placed on standby to respond to the storm over the weekend and that his office was treating the pending storm as an “all hands on deck” situation unless current forecasts are revised.