Utility, highway and tree crews were working around the clock on cleanup efforts Thursday after a ferocious northeaster swept across the Island early in the week, packing hurricane-force winds that knocked out power, tossed fishing boats onto shorelines and downed hundreds of trees from Chappaquiddick to Aquinnah.
The utility giant Eversource said in a statement Thursday afternoon that it was working “nonstop” with hundreds of crew members that had been deployed to restore power to the region — including the Vineyard, where thousands were still without power. The goal was to complete all the work by 6 p.m. Saturday, “with most being restored before then,” the statement also said.
Customers can obtain detailed information from the Eversource online outage map, which is updated every 15 minutes, according to spokesman William Hinkle. At press time Thursday, Mr. Hinkle estimated some 3,000 customers on the Vineyard were still without power. An interactive map with town-by-town estimates of when power will be restored was posted Thursday night.
The storm, which wreaked havoc across southeastern Massachusetts, moved in slowly late Tuesday with rain and wind, slamming the Island with full force in the wee hours of the morning.
A wind gust of 94 miles per hour was recorded at the Chappaquiddick ferry just after 4:30 a.m., ferry owner Peter Wells reported.
On Wednesday morning most of the Island was in the dark. Telephone and internet service was spotty or out altogether.
The Steamship Authority suspended ferry service to both Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket all day. Schools and government buildings were closed (schools remained closed Thursday) and even most online meetings were canceled. Emergency shelters were opened in every town for warming, potable water and internet. Police and firefighters did wellness checks on senior citizens and others, sometimes going door to door. Everywhere trees and tree limbs were down, blocking roadways in many places.
Although damage was widespread, some areas were hit harder than others. Vineyard Haven, the Island’s only year-round ferry port, lay in the direct path of the storm.
“We obviously are one of the harder hit communities,” Tisbury town administrator John (Jay) Grande told the Gazette by phone Thursday. “The power outage has been the biggie.”
DPW director Kirk Metell and town wastewater superintendent Jared Meader joined Mr. Grande on the call, describing in detail the work that had gone on 24/7.
Mr. Meader worked to keep the wastewater plant operating through hurricane-force wind gusts and power outages. At one point the plant generator failed and had to be coaxed back to life.
“I’ve had four hours sleep in two days, on the floor of my office,” Mr. Meader said.
It was a similar story in every Island town, where police, firefighters, public works crews and harbor masters logged long hours, as the storm hung on through the day Wednesday.
Edgartown town administrator James Hagerty said Thursday that the town suffered no catastrophic damage, and that power had been restored to most areas save Chappaquiddick, where crews were at work.
“The hard work and preventative actions of multiple departments have been paramount in maintaining the town’s services over the last 48 hours,” Mr. Hagerty said in an email.
Edgartown harbor master Charlie Blair expressed relief and gratitude that the storm didn’t hit his town harder.
“We were really lucky here. Edgartown is pretty well set up for northeasterly winds . . . in southeasterly winds, we get screwed,” the veteran mariner said.
Still, he said: “If this storm came in August we would have had millions of dollars in damages. Because it came at the end of October, 90 per cent of the boats were hauled out. Instead, we had four or five boats on the beach. Two of them are already off.”
There have been scattered comparisons between the storm and Hurricane Bob, which struck the Vineyard in August 1991, but Mr. Blair had another view. “Bob was over in 40 minutes. The damage was done and there was a lot more damage,” he said.
Mr. Blair said this week Edgartown also became a safe harbor for boats from Vineyard Haven, including the historic schooner Juno, which was able to tuck into the lee of the lighthouse on a vacant summer mooring.
“They were really grateful to get out of Vineyard Haven . . . it was like, come on over,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the sound of chainsaws could be heard in nearly every corner of the Island, as tree crews tackled the daunting work of cleaning up the mess the storm left behind.
Josh Scott, an arborist and owner of Beetlebung Tree Care, FaceTimed with the Gazette from a Vineyard Haven property near the West Tisbury town line where he was on a job. An uprooted black locust tree had gone into a pool yard and smashed a fence, and other uprooted trees were visible.
“This property has been pretty beat up,” Mr. Scott said. “This was a beautiful orchard of fruit trees . . . but their access is good, their power’s good. We’re going to get to this property but not right away . . . We had a busy day yesterday and of course have like 30 to 50 calls to try and get to today.”
He confirmed the storm left extensive damage in places. “It’s kind of spotty. Some areas are fine, some areas are horrendous,” Mr. Scott said. He continued:
“If the leaves were off the trees, we’d probably have a lot less damage — half as much . . . It was right at the tail end of foliation and the trees get really wind-loaded and twisted up when the leaves are still on.
“The leaves are just shredded. The debris is incredible . . . We have such a neat little Island [and] everything is all messed up.”
Mr. Scott said he has two crews of four people each dealing with trees in the field, and “I could use probably double that.”
And he had an important safety message for homeowners.
“No one should be using a chainsaw without chaps and a helmet and proper training. Chainsaws are about the most dangerous tools you can think of,” he said, noting that storm aftermaths are when saw injuries spike.
“It could be fatal,” Mr. Scott warned. “Storm-damaged trees are often loaded. They can snap back.”
He said the many tree companies on the Island are all trying to keep up with the workload.
“We’re trying to field the calls from people who have blocked roads, trees down on power lines, trees on houses and structures,” Mr. Scott said. “For clients with a lot of trees down that are not blocking access or taking down their utilities . . . have some patience.”
Comments (14)
Comments
Comment policy »