Tensions were high as 40 Belchertown residents – most of whom have been surviving without electricity since the Oct. 29 snowstorm – packed into the selectmen's meeting room for a visit from Gov. Deval Patrick.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities is investigating the response by utilities to Saturday’s snowstorm, which has left tens of thousands of customers still without power.
Earlier Friday, Richard K. Sullivan Jr. of Westfield, who is Gov. Deval Patrick’s energy and environmental secretary, asked the utilities department to start the investigation of the storm, which pounded Western Massachusetts with wind and snow.
“We encourage the public to share their feedback with us,” Ann Berwick, chair of the Department of Public Utilities, said.
The review will include public hearings in communities in Western Massachusetts, a department spokesman said.
Tens of thousands remain without power and heat nearly a week after a nor’easter slammed Massachusetts with wind, rain and snow. State officials reported Friday that 42,641 Western Massachusetts Electric Co. customers were without power and 42,489 more customers of National Grid were still in the dark.
Patrick visited Belchertown Friday afternoon and saw a woman dissolve into tears over the lack of electricity a week after the paralyzing nor’easter. He heard others who were angry and frustrated with National Grid’s inability to restore power to their homes. He saw a neighborhood where electrical wires and branches still hang precipitously in the street.
Tensions were high as 40 residents - most of whom have been surviving without electricity since the Oct. 29 snowstorm - packed into the selectmen’s meeting room. The media initially was kept out, to the chagrin of residents like Luke Lamoureux of South Liberty Street, who said the media should be allowed inside.
Lamoureux, who has two children ages 8 and 2, said he’s been calling the governor’s office because he’s had “no water, no power, no heat” and wants answers. He said his family has been keeping warm by using blankets. “We’ve gone six days without power here. The power company lied to our community about where the power’s been restored,” Lamoureux said. “I’ve had more than enough . . . This is an outrage.”
Patrick said he planned to get in touch with National Grid immediately, and told the residents he shares their frustration.
“We are as frustrated as you,” said Patrick, who said his office is given the same estimates as to when power will be restored as everyone else. The latest estimate was for Friday night at 11:45 p.m. for Belchertown.
At the hearing inside Town Hall, Stebbins Street resident Carl Dunne blasted officials for closing the emergency shelter at the high school that morning and for making the decision to have schools reopen Monday. He said he is worried about the power lines still down throughout town.
“You’re putting education first over the safety of the kids,” Dunne said.
The president of National Grid in Massachusetts met with Wilbraham officials Friday morning, part of a series of meetings in town halls around the region.
At a public meeting in the Longmeadow High School auditorium, WMECO President Peter J. Clarke told about 200 residents the town should have 95 percent of its power back by late Friday night or early Saturday morning.
Clarke joined representatives from Verizon and Comcast, town public safety officials and elected officials at the 90-plus minute forum that dealt with power outages from the weekend storm and longer-range concerns about future weather disruptions.
Clarke thanked town residents for their patience, and expressed regret that restoring power has taken so long. But the size and intensity of the storm created problems that no advanced planning could have avoided, Clarke added.
“It created some very unique damage,” he said, adding that the town’s transfer station was essentially “flattened” by falling trees.
By hiring private contractors and bringing in crews from power companies in the south and midwest, WMECO has expanded its workforce to eight times its size in five days, Clarke said.
“No company can expand to eight times its size in two days,” Clarke said. “It takes time.”
The president of National Grid in Massachusetts met with Wilbraham officials Friday morning, part of a series of meetings in town halls around the region.
Marcy L. Reed told Wilbraham officials National Grid hoped to have power substantially restored by the end of Friday, but isolated pockets of outages in some neighborhoods will persist through the weekend.
Many in Wilbraham were still without power Friday.
Reed said National Grid has 3,300 workers on the ground and as they restore more power in lighter-hit eastern Massachusetts more of those workers are coming to the Pioneer Valley.
More workers would be available, but they are tied up with outages in Connecticut, she said.
With an influx of work crews, virtually all electric customers in Springfield should have power restored by mid-day Saturday in the aftermath of last weekend’s major snowstorm, according to a Western Massachusetts Electric Co. official.
During a press conference Friday, H. Edgar Alejandro of WMECO reported that approximately 23,000 customers in Springfield, 36 percent, still had no power Friday. That compared to 49 percent one day earlier, and 51 percent on Wednesday morning.
However, the number of WMECO crews within the city of Springfield increased from 12 truck crews on Tuesday to 94 crews by Friday, Alejandro said. The crews on Friday consisted of 50 line crews and 40 tree crews with a total of 256 workers.
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said the city has done its best in the removal of trees and tree debris from roadways, often hampered by live wires. Sarno had the power at his home restored Friday.
Springfield Health and Human Services Director Helen R. Caulton-Harris said the city shelter at Central High School will continue to provide lodging and meals three times a day for Springfield residents without power on Friday night and continuing through Saturday.
There were 246 people staying at the shelter on Thursday night.
The American Red Cross announced that it has provided 10,002 meals, 13,538 snacks and 1,093 overnight stays to victims of the storm and resulting power outages.
Deadly carbon monoxide fumes emanating form two gasoline-powered generators inside a North End home in Springfield sent two men to Baystate Medical Center Friday morning.
Fire Department spokesman Capt. Michael R. Richard said the two men, once removed from the house, were conscious but suffering altered mental status as a result of the carbon monoxide.
Richard said carbon monoxide levels within the home were 220 parts-per-million. Anything above 9 parts-per-million is considered extremely dangerous, he said
“These two are extremely lucky,” said Richard. He said the home did not have any working smoke or carbon monoxide detectors.
Richard said generators should not be brought indoors and should be kept at least 10 or 20 feet away from all structures.
In Southampton frustrations with Western Massachusetts Electric Co.’s response here were growing as residents and town officials alike pondered the possibility of spending a seventh night without power.
Police were called to Strong Street Tuesday after an elderly man began yelling and screaming at Western Massachusetts Electric Co. personnel and a tree-cutting crew that had been temporarily blocking the road.
“It was a pretty tense moment,” said Police Chief David Silvernail. “Tempers are flaring.”
Police opted not to arrest the man and sent him on his way, Silvernail said.