A tornado watch is in effect for Fairfield County until 2:15. Numerous trees are down with wires all over town, Police Chief Richard Doyle said as of 1:55 p.m.

“I advise everyone to stay home or get to shelter,” Doyle said. “All emergency services are fully staffed.” 

Doyle has been monitoring weather reports and conferred with the Department of Public Works, the first selectman, fire and EMS departments this morning.

Tropical Storm Isaias was racing north to northeast this morning along the Mid-Atlantic coast. The main threats involve heavy rainfall, strong winds, minor to moderate coastal flooding, along with high surf and dangerous rip currents. Additionally, a few tornadoes are possible.

Doyle urged people to avoid driving around trees and don’t go near any downed wires. There could be wires tangled up in fallen trees.

Isaias will slowly weaken as it accelerates northeast today, likely moving over Southwestern Connecticut this afternoon and evening.

However, confidence continues to increase with respect to the magnitude of local hazards and impacts, the National Weather Service states and could fly around during the heavy winds.

Doyle urged people to charge their cell phones and devices and to sign up for Connecticut alerts at ctalerts  and for Easton alerts on the town website. He advised against the use of candles because they are a fire hazard.

Residents can report outages and monitor area outages on the UI website. 

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By Nancy Doniger

Nancy Doniger worked as a journalist for three decades and was a founding editor of the nonprofit Easton Courier in partnership with the School of Communications, Media & the Arts at Sacred Heart University (SHU). She served two years as executive member and is now a contributing editing of the Easton Courier. She was a former managing editor of Hometown Publications and Hersam Acorn Newspapers covering Connecticut's Fairfield and New Haven counties. She was a correspondent for the Connecticut section of The New York Times from 1995 until the section was discontinued in 2006. Over the years she edited The Easton Courier, The Monroe Courier, The Bridgeport News and other community newspapers. She taught news editing as an adjunct professor at SHU and served as coordinator and member of the Community Assets Network for the Easton, Redding and Region 9 schools. She was a member of the Newtown Community Center Commission, member of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), board member of the New England Newspaper and Press Association (NENPA), and past president and board member of the Barnard Club of Connecticut. She has won awards for her writing from SPJ and NENPA.