Severe overnight storms battered Milford, Connecticut, leaving a trail of destruction that included a partial roof and building collapse at a local company. Fire crews said they had been going nonstop, responding to everything from downed trees to the structural damage left behind by the fast moving weather.
The collapse struck Bead Electronics, where part of the building and roof gave way. Officials said the incident happened after business hours and that, to the best of their knowledge, the building was unoccupied at the time, a fact that almost certainly prevented a far worse outcome.
Emergency officials were blunt about how close the situation came to tragedy. Had the collapse happened during normal business hours, they said, this definitely would have been a fatal incident, underscoring the force of the storm that swept through the area overnight.
The damage was not contained to the building itself. Officials said debris from the collapse landed on nearby Metro North rail tracks, briefly interrupting train service before the line could be cleared and normal operations resumed.
Residents described a rattled community. Karen Morey of Trumbull, who was visiting family in the area, said she was not surprised to learn about the partial roof and building collapse given the severity of the overnight weather, adding that she felt badly for those caught up in the destruction.
The storm's reach extended across Milford's neighborhoods. Woodruff Road and neighboring streets took a heavy beating, with fire officials saying crews responded to over a dozen trees that had fallen onto homes, some with people trapped inside. Despite the scale of the damage, no injuries were reported.
In the aftermath, companies that specialize in storm damage recovery spent the entire day going house to house helping residents dig out. Thousands of people had been left without power in the morning, though a majority had been restored by the afternoon, while several roads around Milford remained closed due to downed wires and trees.