Gusty winds and heavy rain Monday morning collapsed seawalls in Niantic and flooded a hotel in Norwich while knocking out power to thousands in southeastern Connecticut and forcing school closures across the region.

East Lyme public works Director Joe Bragaw said the seawall at McCook Point Park fell into Niantic Bay around 10 a.m.

The condition of the structure had not been an issue until this year, when he said damages sustained around Thanksgiving led to a temporary repair in the form of a rip rap retaining wall.

“This is as bad as it's ever been down there,” he said.

With nothing protecting the edge of the parking lot from washing away every time a storm comes in, he described a sense of urgency in identifying repair costs, securing the funds and getting approval from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to make repairs.

The work needs to be done within the next week or two and could cost well over than $100,000 when all is said and done, according to Bragaw. Construction itself could take about two weeks as crews deal with tides and shifting sands.

He identified roughly half a dozen nearby homes with collapsed seawalls that will also have to be repaired by the owners so the water doesn’t undermine the houses as well.

Norwich hotel flooded

In Norwich, the Comfort Suites Inn at 275 Otrobando Ave. had to be evacuated and utilities shut off Monday morning after a wall of water that had flooded the rear parking lot crashed through glass doors to the lower-level pool room.

Yantic Fire Co. Deputy Chief BJ Herz said storm drains became clogged, and water cascaded from the street into the parking lot to a depth of 3 to 4 feet before the glass doors gave way. Firefighters and public works crews had just called for the power and natural gas to be shut off as the doors failed.

The hotel basement, where utilities, maintenance equipment and laundry facilities are located, flooded with about 4 feet of water, Herz said. Norwich Public Utilities spokesman Chris Riley said NPU would restore natural gas and electricity to the hotel once city building officials give the approval.

No hotel rooms were damaged, but guests were evacuated. Norwich Fire Marshal Mark Gilot said about 20% of the hotel’s 119 rooms were occupied.

Hotel officials declined to comment Monday morning.

No power, no school

Schools in Lisbon, Montville, Norwich, Preston, Sprague, Stonington, Colchester, Salem and Voluntown canceled classes.

As the storm moved away, thousands were still without power in the region late Monday afternoon. As of 5 p.m., in Colchester, 1,364 customers or about 18% of the town were without power. In Griswold, 1,089 or 30% of customers were without power and in Lyme, 542 custom, or 40% of the town were in the dark.

Statewide, Eversource reported 52,000 customers statewide were still without power as of 5 p.m., down from 83,038 earlier Monday.

At its peak Monday, NPU had 6,300 customers out of power Monday. By 6:30 p.m. that number was down to 600.

Riley said the outages mainly were caused by downed tree limbs on wires. Tree-cutting crews need to clear debris before power crews can restore power.

Riley urged customers to be aware that any downed power line should be considered a live wire. Anyone seeing a downed wire is asked to call 911.

Mark Biron, general manager of operations at Groton Utilities, said the number of outages fluctuated throughout the day in Groton. As of late afternoon, 300 customers were without power in Groton. All Groton City customers were restored shortly before 4 p.m., he said.

The National Weather Service reported the flood-prone Yantic River was at 11.2 feet as of 4 p.m. Monday, above the 10.5-foot level for major flooding. Norwich police reported no major damage or road closures from river flooding.

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In New London, the Cross Sound Ferry suspended service for Monday. A section of Bank Street was blocked off to traffic for several hours due to rising water and firefighters were being dispatched for reports of flooding basements across the city.

In Mystic, a section of River Road was impassable due to flooding from the Mystic River while the river topped docks in downtown Mystic.

j.penney@theday.com