Irene Tears Her Way Through Vernon

Even a tropical storm version of Hurricane Irene has been enough to wreak havoc in Vernon.

As the storm rolled in overnight and intensified at daybreak, trees and branches started falling. Roads flooded and the mayor urged residents to stay off the roads.

At about 9 a.m., a tree fell onto the Fox Hill nursing home off Route 30. No one was injured because a retaining wall blocked it from hitting the residential area, according to fire officials. Crews cut a pathway through the driveway with one of the 65 chainsaws the town purchased for the storm.

No one from the home had to be transported to the emergency shelter at Rockville High School, town officials said. There was only a sparse crowd at the shelter.

Route 30 was a mess. Wires were down and blocked the road at the Dobson Street intersection and the Road was blocked at Dobbs Crossing because of a large evergreen tree in the roadway.

A large tree fell off Route 30 near the Wood N Tap restaurant and was briefly on fire near the large gas tanks that have been there for years. Fire Chief William Call said the old Yankee Gas propane tanks were purged when the land was sold to a private enterprise about a month ago.

Route 83 was  passable and the Valero station at the Regan Road intersection still had gas this morning.

About 1,500 people were without power, mostly in Vernon center. Just before 9 a.m., a fuse blew on a transformer with a loud bang that could be heard as far away as the high school. Mayor Jason McCoy said he was informed by Connecticut Light & Power officials that no crews would be out until the storm had passed.

A memo went out to municipal officials statewide at about 10:30 a.m. Only the top priority cases will be addressed, CL&P told local officials.

Police officers, firefighters, emergency services crews and town officials hit the road at 11 a.m. on reconnaissance patrols to assess the damage.

''The storm we can watch,'' one fire official said. "Then it's outside for damage assessment. The it's the cleanup and that's 10hours of hell.''