Falling Tree Kills Backcountry Woman on Way to Dinner

[ARTICLE 1]

This article reflects my uncle (Sgt. Mike O'Connor)'s account of nearly losing his life as well.


Greenwich Time- A 61-year-old woman was killed after a tree struck her on the head as she and her husband walked in their northeast Greenwich neighborhood during the storm Saturday night.

Police did not release the woman's name pending notification of additional family members. Her husband, who was slightly injured, was treated and released from Greenwich Hospital, and could not be reached by telephone Sunday.

The woman and her husband lived on Boulder Brook Road, and were believed to be walking to a neighbor's home for dinner, police said.

Neighbor Gary Silberberg said he was outside checking on damage when he was approached by the woman's husband, asking him to help search for his wife.

"He was upset, he was agitated," Silberberg said. Darkness and extensive tree damage made the search difficult, Silberberg said.

"It was just awful there were so many trees down," he said.

Silberberg returned to his home to find a flashlight. When he returned a few minutes later the woman had been found lying on the road close to a tree.

"She was lying face down and we turned her over and I couldn't get a pulse and she had a gray pallor on her face," said Silberberg, 65, who had been a medic in the Army about 40 years ago.

A neighbor found a tarpaulin and Silberberg and other neighbors carried her to a nearby home where a doctor lived.

The doctor looked at her but there was nothing he could do, Silberberg said.

Police believed one white pine tree knocked two others down, and that one of the those trees fell on the woman's head.

"We think she died instantly," said Chief David Ridberg.

It took almost two hours for police and paramedics to arrive because of the storm damage that blocked roads leading to the scene, said Sgt. Michael O'Connor.

At one point he feared for his life on Stanwich Road.

"We were outside trying to move a tree when we heard a loud crack -- the gust of wind must have been 70 miles per hour easily -- and we jumped back into the truck," he said. "The tree just stopped above the hood, it was the (telephone) wires that stopped it. If I had moved that truck about four feet (before the tree came down) I think it would have crushed the truck."

The tree's trunk, which O'Connor estimated to be about three feet in diameter, stopped just inches above the hood of the police department pickup he was in with two other officers and two paramedics.

"It was right in the windshield, right in our faces," he said. "There were some expletives said and I said let's get out of here."

They parked the vehicle in a driveway and waited for a tree crew to cut the tree to let them through. But another tree was in their way preventing them from responding to Boulder Brook Road.

They got out and walked but in the meantime two detectives had reached the scene, said O'Connor. Instead they responded to other calls including one where a family had been trapped in a car for hours because trees had come down on either side of the car.

"It was like something out of a movie," O'Connor said about the damage wrought by the storm and the danger they were in. "I was scared. I have been a police officer for almost 26 years and I was a volunteer firefighter before that. This was the worst I have ever seen it. I do consider myself lucky."

It wasn't until about 11 p.m. that the woman and her husband were brought to the hospital, police said.

The woman's body will be taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner Monday. Police did not know if an autopsy will be performed Monday.

A Third of the U.S. Faces Above-Average Flood Risk

MSNBC-More than a third of the contiguous United States faces a high or above average flood risk this spring, the National Weather Service reported Tuesday.

"We are looking at potentially historic flooding in some parts of the country this spring," Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said at a news briefing while presenting the government's spring outlook. NOAA oversees the weather service.

The highest threat is in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa. Those areas have already seen some flooding and rivers are rising quickly, especially the Red River between North Dakota and Minnesota.

"Crests could approach the record levels set just last year" along the Red, the service stated. In 2009, about 100 homes in the area were damaged and thousands of people were evacuated after the Red River rose above the flood stage for a record 61 days and crested twice.

"It’s a terrible case of deja vu, but this time the flooding will likely be more widespread" across the Midwest, Lubchenco said.

"As the spring thaw melts the snowpack, saturated and frozen ground in the Midwest will exacerbate the flooding of the flat terrain and feed rising rivers and streams," she added.

Rell Probes Complaints That CL&P Delayed Storm Response

Greenwich Time- The governor is calling for a probe into Connecticut Light & Power's response to the weekend's major storm, saying municipal leaders have complained about the utility's slow response after thousands were left without power.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell's response also comes after union officials claimed that CL&P delayed their response to keep costs down.

Rell said she heard from many municipal leaders, fire and police chiefs and emergency management officials, who said they had trouble reaching utility officials -- often getting voice mail or no answer -- and said that they saw relatively few utility crews on the job in the first two days of the storm.

Rell has asked the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and the state Department of Public Utility Control to pull individual work crew records for Saturday and Sunday.

"Thousands of Connecticut residents remain without power even now -- three days after the storm, with nighttime lows still dipping into the 30s," Rell said in a statement. "And it is flatly unacceptable for a fire or police official to be unable to reach a `real person' at a utility company in the middle of an emergency. We need to know what went wrong, why it happened and how to keep it from happening again."

CL&P spokesman Frank Poirot Tuesday morning declined to comment on the allegations by labor union officials that the utility didn't want to pay crews double time for working longer shifts.

"We're focus our efforts on restoration," Poirot said. "Anything else is a distraction."

Daughter Charged in December Stabbing

STAMFORD -- A Greenwich woman was arraigned in state Superior Court Tuesday after police said she stabbed her mother during a domestic violence incident that occurred in December 2009.

Gail Stechel, 20, of Dingletown Road, was charged with first-degree assault and interfering with an emergency 911 call after turning herself in on an arrest warrant Monday night.

Police said officers responded to Stechel's Dingletown Road residence on Dec. 26, 2009, for a report of a possible overdose on pills. When officers arrived, however, they discovered there had been an altercation the night before that left the mother with "numerous facial contusions," police said. Upon further investigation, officers at the scene learned Stechel's mother had been stabbed several times in the face, back, hands arms and legs, according to Lt. Daniel Allen.

Allen said it was not clear if the wounds were superficial or deep, penetrating wounds. Police said if the victim had received treatment at a hospital, police would have been notified to investigate a possible crime. However, they were never notified about the altercation the night of the alleged stabbing.

Allen said the victim and Stechel were taken to Greenwich Hospital on Dec. 26, 2009. The victim's wounds did not appear to be life-threatening then, police said.

Stechel was treated for a possible overdose on pills, according to police reports.

Allen said in the months after responding to the incident, detectives decided to pursue an arrest warrant to charge her with the crimes.

Police said officers found a knife and other evidence at the scene of the home.

Allen said Stechel posted a $100,000 bond and was released Monday night.

Her attorney, Mark Sherman, said Stechel appeared in state Superior Court for her arraignment Tuesday afternoon, where a judge held her bond at $100,000 and issued a partial protective order allowing Stechel to have contact with her mother, but barring her from any further physical altercations.

Sherman declined to comment on the circumstances behind the incident, as did police.

"This is a delicate, sensitive family situation," said Sherman following the hearing. "The family has begun the healing process and put mechanisms in place so that this does not happen again."