Plymouth residents hunkered down as the town was battered by a historic storm bringing high winds, heavy snow and whiteout conditions Monday. Thousands of residents sheltered in their homes without electricity or heat. Plymouth was one of the Massachusetts towns worst hit by power outages. As of 4:37 p.m. Monday, Eversource reported 26,372 Plymouth customers without power, or 76 percent of its customers in town.
For those without shelter, some relief was available. Twenty people without homes were able to shelter throughout the day at First Baptist Church on Westerly Road.
“We made the decision to keep our guests in shelter,” said Connie Melahoures, program coordinator of the Overnights of Hospitality Winter Emergency Shelter. “We’re feeding them and they’re safe. We’ve arranged for them to have lunch and dinner.” Normally, guests would leave at 7 a.m. and return in the evening.
As of Monday afternoon, another 10 people had sought refuge at a shelter at Plymouth North High School run by the town and the American Red Cross.
Downtown was one of the first areas of town to lose power, said Town Manager Derek Brindisi. In a statement, Eversource said outages were caused mainly by strong winds and heavy, wet snow bringing trees and tree limbs down on power lines.
The utility said it will bring in additional crews from Western Massachusetts and New Hampshire to support restoration in Eastern Massachusetts as conditions allow. Eversource officials said full restoration of power could take several days. Brindisi said he hoped winds would die down enough by Tuesday morning so power restoration could begin.
Downed trees and live wires are complicating road clearance efforts by the Department of Public Works, his spokesperson said. Governor Maura Healey issued a ban on all non-essential travel for Plymouth, Barnstable, and Bristol counties.
“Stay home if you can,” Brindisi said. “Shelter in place.”
Brindisi urged residents to be patient. He said at some point, the 35 DPW employees and 65 contractors who have been clearing the snow since Sunday night must take a break to rest before resuming their work.
“They do a 24- to 30-hour shift, but eventually, they’re exhausted,” he said. “They have to go home. They need to rest before we can bring them back again.”
All Plymouth town buildings will remain closed Tuesday.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org