by John Osborn ·
Monday, October 31, 2011
A utility truck drives through the center early on Sunday morning, Oct. 30. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
A tree stretches the power lines on Still River Road.
Chef Paul Correnty serves peaches at a shelter lunch on Oct. 31.
From left, Detective Jack Izzo, DPW Director Rich Nota, Officer Greg Newman, and DPW employee Bill Card take a break from their duties to eat lunch at the shelter at Bromfield.
After a chilly, cloudless night, Harvard residents woke up Monday morning to sunny skies, rising temperatures, and the hum of generators. But homes everywhere in town remained without power for the second straight day, and among town businesses, only the Post Office was open. No General Store. No Dunkin’ Donuts. No school, banks, or pizza.
“We are 100 percent without power,” Harvard Department of Public Works Director Rich Nota told the Press on Monday. “There are 42 streets in town with trees down, but at this point we’re waiting for National Grid to remove them. Our crews have done all they can.”
According to state utility rules, if a downed tree or broken tree limb is touching a power line, only the utility can remove them. The eastern approach to town on Route 111 as well as Poor Farm Road and a portion of Shaker Road have been closed since the storm hit. Elsewhere, even on stretches where contractors hired by National Grid had trimmed trees this summer, wayward, leaf bearing limbs could be seen brushing or draped across wires on just about any street in town.
“We’ve been told [National Grid] will arrive Monday afternoon,” Nota said. But at 2 p.m., the only company vehicle spotted in town was a pickup truck near downed lines on Route 111. Once the trucks eventually arrive, Nota said, the company will most likely start with lines on Route 111, Littleton Road, Still River and West Bare Hill Road and move outward from there onto feeder streets and cul de sacs.
“I’m reserving judgment on how good the [National Grid] response has been,” he told the Press.
In spite of obstructions throughout town, residents appeared to have no problem getting about by Monday. The Harvard Ambulance squad reported only three calls over the past 48 hours: one medical emergency, one fall, and a two-car collision.
The Bromfield School has been open since Sunday evening as an emergency shelter. Fire Chief Rick Sicard ordered the opening on Sunday, but the announcement failed to reach most residents who lacked Internet access to check the town website, or a working phone over which to receive the reverse 911 call that was sent. Only one Harvard resident and several members of a state Department of Conservation and Recreation crew spent the night.
By Monday morning, however, school chef Paul Correnty and several volunteers were serving hot coffee and muffins, and word of the service began to spread by word of mouth. Correnty served a hot lunch at noon today, and a hot dinner at will be available beginning at 6 p.m. Correnty told the Press he expects to continue serving meals until power is restored, which he expects to happen by Thursday. There is no charge, but residents are asked to sign in with volunteers at the front desk so the town has an accurate accounting of the number of meals served. This figure will be used later to recover the town’s costs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. By shortly after 1 p.m. today, more than 100 Harvard residents had signed in a least once.
Residents who choose to sleep at the school tonight must bring their own bedding, including a cot or air mattress. There are no beds. Showers were available this morning, but their use has been curtailed until a fire alarm sensitive to steam can be fixed, according to Colleen Nigzus, the school’s head nurse and the emergency center coordinator. As lunch was about to be served and fire alarms sounded throughout the building, residents had to evacuate until the fire department arrived to shut the alarms off.
Most meetings in Harvard are canceled, but property owners hoping for a tax holiday will be disappointed: Town Hall will be open Nov. 1 to collect third quarter property taxes.
Nota said that generators are on their way from Baltimore to power Town Hall, the elementary school, and the library. They were expected to arrive Monday afternoon and will be connected as soon as they’re unloaded at their intended sites. The hookup requires an electrician to do the work; three years after the ice storm of December 2008 that paralyzed Harvard for days, the town has yet to install receptacles that would allow workers to easily connect emergency generators to town buildings.
According to a reverse 911 call this afternoon by Chief Sicard, National Grid is predicting it will restore power to 90 percent of the town by Thursday night. Crews are currently working on the north side of town, Sicard said.
Harvard’s traditional trick-or-treat night on the common has not been canceled, but it has been postponed until Saturday, from 5 until 8 p.m., as announced on the town web site.
And a Tuesday evening public hearing at Volunteers Hall to hear a proposal from Trinity Financial for the development of low cost housing at Devens will proceed as planned, according to Board of Selectman Chair Marie Sobalvarro. Residents should keep their calendars marked.