New London cleans up storm damage

NEW LONDON - You'll hear a lot of chainsaws if you're in New London, as crews work tirelessly to clean up the mess from Friday's storm.

“There's a lot of trees on the houses, a lot of branches down,” said Jason Hanstedt, who is working with crews to clear the debris.

Straight line winds ripped through the town Friday, leaving evidence of destruction all over the neighborhood. Some residents say they have never experienced such damage from a storm.

“I've lived in New London my whole life. And this is the worst I've ever seen,” said resident Brandy Presswood.

A tree crashed through Presswood’s roof, and now she and her family are finding somewhere else to stay.

“Hopefully we'll get the clearance to go in and take some of my stuff out and figure out where we're gonna live. Try to find a different home or apartment. Right now we're just staying at a hotel in town,” said Presswood.

From technicians to landscapers, dozens of people, some contracted with the city, are trying to get things back to normal as fast as they can. But the size of some downed trees makes that challenging.

“It's pretty dangerous stuff, we've got a lot of big wood over there,” said James Dorn.

“A lot of old growth trees, four or five foot diameter stuff,” said Hanstedt.

Clearing it all out will take some time.

“I'm gonna guess we're gonna be here for a week, week and a half,” said Hanstedt.

And getting the town back to it's old self will take even longer.

“New London Tree Service will be busy off of this for a couple years, I'm sure,” said Dorn.

But residents say they'll be patient, realizing the small town is doing all it can.

“These guys have been here since 8:30 this morning, they're doing an awesome job,” said Presswood.

And while residents say they appreciate the help, they hope once the mess is cleaned up, the crews won't ever have to come back.