The mighty storm that tore through the area Wednesday was officially declared a tornado in Bethel and Newtown.
Meteorologist Jeffrey Tongue of the National Weather Service said Friday that the tornado was spawned out of a cluster of storms that had already caused extensive damage in Ridgefield and Redding.
Tongue said the straight-line winds there reached between 60 and 80 mph. By the time the tornado had formed and was passing through Bethel and Newtown around 4 p.m., winds had increased to 90 mph.
"It was very localized," Tongue said. "It was about 100 yards wide and followed a path of about 5 miles. It stopped after the storms left Newtown."
A statement issued by the National Weather Service said that based on an evaluation of damage to trees and structures in the area, the tornado was tagged as an EF-1 on the enhanced Fujita Scale used by meteorologists to rate the intensity of tornadoes.
An EF-1 is classified as a "moderate tornado" and includes wind gusts ranging from 86 to 110 mph. Its strength packs the potential for overturning mobile homes and pushing moving cars off the road.
During the storm, homes were damaged, trees were uprooted and power lines were snapped, leaving more than 20,000 people in the Danbury area without power and dozens of roads closed.
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
I guess the HatCItyBLOG readers who sent me email reports on the damage in their area as well as the firefighters I interviewed from Waterwitch Hose Co #7 were correct afterall.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
