Small pockets of the Island remained without Thursday after a March blizzard lashed the Vineyard with high winds and heavy, wet snow.
An Eversource spokesman said power should be completely restored to the Island and other parts of coastal Massachsuetts by midnight Friday.
By Thursday morning power had been restored to most of Aquinnah and Chilmark, where there had been widespread power outages since early Tuesday. According to Eversource, about 600 people remained without power on the Vineyard by mid-day Thursday, including about a quarter of Aquinnah residents and 395 people in West Tisbury. There were smaller numbers of outages reported in other Island towns.
The storm posed a challenge for Eversource because of high winds and blizzard conditions, Eversource spokesman Priscilla Ress told the Gazette Thursday. About a half dozen crews were sent to the Island before the start of the storm and several more were sent over to assist after the storm.
At the height of the blizzard Tuesday about 6,000 houses were without power, including all of Aquinnah and Chilmark and most of West Tisbury. Restoring power has been the primary post-storm effort on the Vineyard following the storm.
Overnight warming shelters opened in Edgartown and Aquinnah. Police said residents could find heat and electricity during the day at town libraries and councils on aging.
Eversource said residents should assume downed power lines are live, stay 10 feet away and call police.
The storm left power outages, downed trees and a drumbeat of dripping ice and snow in its wake.
Ferries ran on a trip-by-trip basis Wednesday after a full day of cancellations during the storm. Island children went sledding under blue skies, taking advantage of the second snow day in a row.
“All the roads are open, so it’s just a power issue now,” Aquinnah police chief Randhi Belain told the Gazette by phone from Chilmark, because he had no cell phone reception in Aquinnah. “Our priority is getting the power back on.” The chief said Eversource crews were at work at Aquinnah Circle and more crews were slated to arrive on the ferry Wednesday.
Police warned residents to look out for ice falling from wires and trees, with reports of people getting hurt while walking and damage to cars.
Officials said no injuries were reported during the storm Tuesday, though departments responded to reports of downed wires, trees blocking roads, and property damage.
According to the National Weather Service the Vineyard was one of several areas to experience blizzard conditions as the powerful northeaster hit New England, with sustained winds of 35 miles per hour or above for three or more hours and driving snow. A wind gust of 67 miles per hour was reported at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.
Blowing snow led to varied snowfall amounts. The weather service said 8.5 inches of snow was reported in West Tisbury. Five inches of snow and 1.82 inches of melted precipitation was reported at the National Weather Service cooperative station in Edgartown.
The wind took down more wires and trees less than two weeks after a major storm caused widespread damage. In Aquinnah a tree fell on State Road by Orange Peel bakery and blocked the road, right next to the spot where a tree fell and blocked the road in the early March northeaster.
Police and fire personnel said they were kept busy with calls.
Chilmark police chief Jonathan Klaren said North Road was hit hard, with downed trees that left part of the road impassable and knocked out power. On Tuesday nearly all of Chilmark was without power, and Chief Klaren said crews hoped to restore power by Wednesday evening.
“The biggest issue up here is power,” Chief Klaren said. “There is no significant damage to buildings, just damage to electrical infrastructure along North Road.”
The last northeaster was more intense, he said, but the heavy snow Tuesday “was a recipe for trees coming down.”
Aquinnah police and fire responded to a house on State Road that filled with smoke from a wood stove, Chief Belain said. The resident flagged the police chief down on State Road and asked him to call the fire department, which responded and cleared the situation.
In Oak Bluffs the wind blew off part of the Summercamp Hotel, formerly the Wesley Hotel, the historic building across the street from the town harbor.
“This was one of the worst storms I’ve dealt with in terms of trees coming down,” fire chief John Rose said.
Schools superintendent Matthew D’Andrea made the call to close school for a second day Wednesday. Chilmark School was without power Wednesday morning but should be restored by Thursday, he said.
“There were just multiple factors that came into play,” Mr. D’Andrea said. “I thought it would be best in safety for the kids to allow for an extra day of cleanup, power restorations and clearing sidewalks for safety.”
In Edgartown electric wires were down around town, including the main line on the Chappaquiddick Road, fire chief Alex Schaeffer said. By Wednesday power was back on Chappy with the exception of Dike Road. There were outages in Katama because of iced wires on Meeting House Road and a utility pole that burned on Katama Road.
Chief Schaeffer and other Island emergency managers were in contact with state and Island officials to determine whether warming shelters were needed overnight. Edgartown decided to open a shelter at Edgartown School, although just one person came to seek warmth a charge a cell phone.
“Based on the numbers [of power outages] I was concerned for the community,” Chief Schaeffer said.
Rev. Chip Seadale said four or five people sought shelter at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown, about the same number that usually seek winter shelter through the Houses of Grace Program.
Landry Harlan and Holly Pretsky contributed reporting.
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