Three days after Monday’s powerful blizzard blanketed Plymouth with 30 inches of heavy snow, causing widespread power outages and stranding thousands of residents in their homes, a return to normalcy remained out of reach for many.
Eversource crews on Wednesday continued working around the clock to restore service to thousands of customers still without power, while town public works employees and subcontractors logged long hours to make secondary roads navigable.
Municipal buildings will be closed through Friday, and schools won’t re-open until next week, giving students an unexpectedly long winter break.
Meantime, an emergency shelter at Plymouth North High School, operating in conjunction with the American Red Cross, is serving as a regional emergency shelter. It is currently home to 34 adults and two children, Town Manager Derek Brindisi said.
The town has opened a second warming location at the Cedarville Community Center on State Road. Unlike Plymouth North, it does not provide overnight accommodations.
Snow removal on the town’s 380 miles of roads has been a major logistical challenge. Brindisi said the state is helping speed the process by providing 16 pieces of snow removal equipment, including front-end loaders, Humvees, skid steer loaders, and dump trucks. He said the town had just three front-end loaders when the storm began, and one of those broke.
“We’re still doing the best that we can” to clear streets, Brindisi said, adding that he hoped that by the end of Wednesday every public road in town would be passable. The town, however, is not responsible for private streets in developments such as Pinehills and Redbrook.
Brindisi said the town has struggled to reopen some roads because of abandoned vehicles that he said would be towed. Owners can call the police department to recover them.
But the biggest problem caused by the storm and its damaging winds is far beyond the town’s control – power outages.
As of 3:57 p.m. Wednesday, 13,905 Plymouth Eversource customers, or 40 percent, were still without power, the utility reported. That was down from 26,372, or 76 percent, on Monday.
Eversource had 129 crews deployed in Plymouth Wednesday, according to a statement from the town’s communications coordinator.
In a press conference on Howland Street, downtown, Doug Foley, president of electric operations for Massachusetts for Eversource, said the company estimates that nearly all its Massachusetts customers will have power back by midnight Friday.
The utility’s Plymouth customers should be back online sooner. The company estimates that nearly all of the town will have power restored by 11:45 p.m. Thursday, according to its website. For those enduring cold homes – some without running water – that can’t come soon enough.
Many of those homes are filled with children and parents who might be going stir crazy.
In a message to families and staff Wednesday, School Superintendent Christopher Campbell said it wasn’t yet safe to resume classes.
“Many of our school buildings are still without power,” Campbell said. “Road conditions remain vulnerable, with downed trees and wires, heavy snowbanks limiting visibility and access, and some areas still impassable. We are also addressing fire suppression concerns, removing snow loads from vulnerable roofs, and coordinating with heavy equipment contractors to assist with large-scale snow removal at our buildings.”
Campbell said staff “are conducting building-by-building assessments to ensure the functionality of heat and electricity, fire alarm and sprinkler systems, transportation depots, and snow removal status for parking lots, sidewalks, entrances, and bus lanes.”
He said the schools are working with the Department of Public Works “to assess street conditions and ensure that bus routes and bus stops are safe and accessible.”
The power outages have resulted in some safety concerns, too. The fire department has responded to “dozens and dozens of calls” related to elevated carbon monoxide levels resulting from the use of generators, Brindisi said.
“We need folks to clear the snow around the generator, make sure all the exhaust is clear so it’s not backing up into a home,” he said, adding that no fatalities have been reported.
The town has received more than 600 SeeClickFix requests and over 126 phone calls to its Emergency Operations Center, “all of which are being acknowledged and addressed as quickly as possible,” a town spokesperson said.
A parking ban remains in effect in the downtown and North Plymouth areas. The town said the ban applies to “areas between the ocean and the following boundary: Beginning at the eastern end of Hedge [Road]., west to Court Street, across Court St. to South Spooner St., west on South Spooner St.to Standish Ave., south on Standish Avenue to Samoset St., east on Samoset St. to Oak St., south on Oak St.to Summer St., east on Summer St.to Pleasant St., south on Pleasant St. to Robinson St., west on Robinson St. to Mayflower St., south on Mayflower St. to South St., east on South St. to Sandwich St., and south on Sandwich St. to the entrance of Stephens Field.”
The map below outlines the affected areas. For a zoomable version, go here.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org Mark Pothier of the Independent staff contributed to this report.