One Week of Microburst Clearing

The approximate core of the 8/3/2024 microburst

Right after the storm, in which 44% of Shelton residents lost power, we knew there would be lots of damage, but it took almost a week before we had a handle on how localized the damage was to an east-west swath cutting across town. Some trails at Shelton Lakes were impassable while some areas like Birchbank seem untouched. There weren't even any leaves or branches on the ground. Based on the trail damage pattern and what some of the streets looked like, the above map is a rough approximation of the core damage path. 

Most of the fallen trees are pointing to the east, the same direction that the storm was traveling. Some people were arguing that this was a tornado, but the damage was caused by straight-line winds. According to meteorologists, the storm cell possibly produced a funnel cloud in Trumbull (one photo is said to be inconclusive), but the dramatic video and photos taken from Shelton and widely shared on social media look like a shelf cloud associated with the downburst. 

The Rec Path near Lane Street

Terry and Mark removed a big Tulip Tree from the Rec Path

SUNDAY: At any rate, the storm was Saturday evening, and Sunday morning I headed out to start clearing what I could. Like a lot of other people in town, I had to keep turning around due to closed roads, and traffic lights were out in Huntington Center and all along Shelton Ave. I decided to start at Indian Well and Tahmore Preserve because these are popular trails on a Sunday, but the only real storm damage I found was at the very top of the hill at Tahmore Preserve. So I headed back to Shelton Lakes (hitting another closed road) and worked on the Rec Path between Wesley Drive and Lane Street. 

Oak tops were heavy with acorns.
This is the trail after one was cleared

Meanwhile, responding to our first trail report, Terry Gallagher took his chainsaw to cut a large tree across the Rec Path near Wesley Drive. He was eventually joined by Mark Vollaro, who ran into so many closed roads on his way to help that it took him close to an hour to drive across town. It was a big tree, but they cleared it. 

A lot of the downed branches and trees were oak tops full of acorns. I suspect the extra weight of the acorns is what brought them down. We also had some tulip tree poplars, which get really tall and break easily. But the oaks tops were really something. A lot of broken oak tops were still dangling overhead after the storm. 

Luis Isaza on the Rec Path Monday

MONDAY: On Monday, all hands were on deck to clear the Rec Path, our most popular trail.  Of the seven Trails Committee members, three were out of town and a fourth has health issues, leaving three members to deal with the storm damage, with the help of a few additional dedicated volunteers. Ellen Cramp and Ray Hansen worked behind Pine Lake, Mark Vollaro and Luis Isaza worked from Silent Waters to Oak Valley, and I worked my way up from Wesley Drive to Oak Valley.  (Where was Terry Gallagher? Working at his job!) By the end of the day, the Rec Path was clear! Later in the day I walked Birchbank Mountain and only had to remove storm damage from one spot. It was like nothing happened there. 

Paugussett Trail north of Constitution Blvd

TUESDAY: Everyone was pretty tired on Tuesday. Ellen Cramp conducted a detailed survey of storm damage on Oak Valley Trail. Lisa Adriani had sent in a report for the Paugussett Trail north of Constitution Blvd, with lots of messy stuff that would be hard to walk through, so I started focusing on the Paugussett Trail and was able to clear most of the damage from there to Meadow Street. I carry a battery chainsaw and loppers and can get 80 or 90 percent of most storm damage so that it's passable, leaving larger logs for Terry and Mark. I contacted CFPA, who runs the Blue-Trail system, to let them know their trail was a complete mess but we were working on it. 

Downed trees typically pointed east
(Paugussett Trail above Silent Waters)

WEDNESDAY:  Paugussett Trail clearing continued with the trail at Housatonic Woods (minor tree damage) and the Indy Link section (north of Independence Drive). Discovered a line of oak tree tops on the ground between Turkey Trot Trail and the Paugussett Trail and was glad most of them missed the trail. 

Boehm Pond is a disaster

THURSDAY: I swung by Boehm Pond, hoping the storm had missed the preserve. Nope. It's a disaster. The white trail was impassable and will need lots of work. Lisa Adrian also surveyed the trail at about the same time. Somehow we missed each other. 

FRIDAY: I checked Stockmal Trail as the winds of Tropical Storm Debby started ramping up, hoping the microburst had missed it, and it had. Lots of sticks on the trail, but that was all. Ellen walked Nicholdale and found only minor tree damage. So that was good news. But the winds from Debby were pretty strong and more trees were falling across town. Ack. 

Mark and Ellen tackled this mess behind Eklund Garden

Much better!

SATURDAY: Mark Vollaro and Ellen Cramp worked on a massive oak blowdown blocking the Paugussett Trail behind Eklund Garden. Meanwhile, Terry Gallagher cleared some logs from the Paugussett between Turkey Trot Trail and Independence, including a booby-trapped oak hung up so badly that people are just going to have to go under it. I took a long walk from Birchbank to Indian Well and discovered three new blowdowns at Birchbank but was able to verify that the Paugusset section we call "Birch-Well" was clear. 

Terry cleared a way for the Paugussett Trail under this oak. 
There's no safe way to completely remove the tree.

Now it's Sunday and the crews are back out there working. We have the Paugussett Trail fully open and Nells Rock Trail is getting cleared. Some new damage reports from Storm Debby are coming in on areas we previously cleared. Oh well!