From Keila Torres, Connecticut Post:
A building collapsed at 588 East Main St., in Bridgeport Thursday afternoon after a line of violent thunderstorms downed trees and power lines.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene. People are reportedly trapped in the muilti-story building. State Police are bringing in a canine unit to help locate anyone trapped inside. The Fairfield and Westport fire department is also on the scene.
Roads are blocked near the collapsed building.
There were also reports of a building down near Noble and Knowlton Streets.
There are unconfirmed reported that a tornado touched down in the area.
Mayor Bill Finch declared a state of emergency. He reported on his Twitter account, “I have declared a state Of Emergency. Please stay calm. EOC activated. Please report incidents.”
Nearly 11,000 United Illuminating customers were without power Thursday afternoon. Connecticut Light & Power reports more than 3800 outages.
There were also reports of several natural gas leaks.
On East Washington Avenue a roof was blown off a business. Workers inside the building were not injured. Part of the roof was also blown off at Kolbe Cathedral High School in Bridgeport.
The first floor windows of the Barnum Museum were also blown out along with several on the RBS building on Lafayette Boulevard.
Tall trees near the City Hall Annex in downtown Bridgeport were uprooted. There were reports of live wires across the streets and numerous road closures.
About half of the trees in Bridgeport’s Washington Park have fallen.
There are numerous reports of downed trees, power lines ripped from utility poles. In Stratford, most traffic lights were not functioning. Many roads are blocked.
The line of thunderstorms passed through downtown Bridgeport around 2:30 p.m.
Trumbull Police Deputy Chief Michael Harry said wires and trees were down throughout town. Serious incidents include one that happened about 2:30 p.m. at Trumbull Center on Daniels Farm Road in which a tree was knocked down, and fell onto some power lines, knocking down the wires and utility pole. Both the tree and the wires fell on a car, with a woman trapped inside. Fire personnel extricated the woman from the car within an hour. She was taken to an area hospital. Harry didn’t have any information on the woman, nor the name of the hospital she was taken to, but said she didn’t seem to be seriously injured.
Harry reported at least one other serious incident, in which a tree fell on house in the Long Hill section, damaging the house. Harry had no information on the house’s exact location.
In Fairfield, trees and wires down at various spots throughout town, including Black Rock Turnpike and Sturgess Highway.
Christopher Rosario, asst. special projects manager in the mayor’s office, said he was inside the City Hall annex when the power went out. “We went out the State Street side and watched the funnel cloud form right in front of our eyes,” he said.
Andrew Nunn, the mayor’s chief of staff, stood outside of the City Hall Annex. “We don’t know yet what happened,” he said.”There are trees down everywhere, buildings damaged. This is just the beginning. Now comes the clean up.”
I hope no one was hurt. The property damage looks pretty bad on TV. I suspect no one else is posting because there is no electricity. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.