Published in the October 17, 2019 edition.
WAKEFIELD — A quick moving nor’easter didn’t spare the area overnight, as dozens of communities reported trees down and electricity lost.
Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light General Manager Pete Dion said about 500 customers lost power at one time or another, with 75 still without electricity this morning. They were expected to get it back by the afternoon.
Dion said the outages were scattered throughout town. Power was lost in neighborhoods off Salem Street, off Pleasant Street and on Mountain Avenue, for example. Also electricity was lost on Byron Street, where a crew was still at work around 8:30 this morning.
MGLD, fire and DPW crews, as well as a contractor hired to help deal with downed trees and limbs, rushed from one call to another beginning just after midnight.
A large limb was down across Pine Hill Circle around 1 a.m., with power lines affected too.
An electrical transformer exploded twice around 1:45 a.m. on Gould Street, causing a pole fire.
Wires were sparking in a North Parking lot around 1:55 a.m.
Wires and tree limbs wee down in the middle of Central Street around 2:50 a.m.
A transformer was arcing along a stretch of Main Street at 2:57 a.m.
A tree was down on Eunice Circle at 3 a.m.
A tree was down in the middle of another section of Main Street at 3:03 a.m.
Wires were reported hanging in a tree on Howard Street, causing a fire at 3:09 a.m.
At 3:10 a.m., a tree came down and pulled electrical service from a house on Montrose Avenue, causing basement wiring to malfunction. The basement filled with smoke and some structural wood was charred.
Wires and limbs were down on Robin Road at
3:12 a.m.
A tree was down on Park Street at 3:14 a.m.
A tree was down on top of a car and was also in the roadway at the corner of Main and Summer streets around 3:20 a.m.
At 3:30 a.m. a tree was reported down on Prospect Street. A side porch was damaged.
At 3:43 a.m. a tree was down at Walnut and Chestnut streets.
At 3:55 a.m. limbs were down near the intersection of Nahant Street and Birch Hill Avenue.
A tree was in the middle of Lawrence Street just before 4 a.m.
A tree was down on a Byron Street resident’s roof and lawn at 4:17 a.m. Two poles were also snapped.
A tree was blocking Rosemary Avenue at 4:25 a.m.
A large tree limb was blocking one lane of traffic on Salem Street at Marion Circle around 5:10 a.m.
A tree came down on Tobey Lane around 5:40 a.m.
A large limb was down at the intersection of Broadway and Albion Street around 5:50 a.m.
A tree was in the roadway at West Water and Foster streets around 6:40 a.m.
Around 6:50 a.m. a power line was reported down on a house on Newell Road and the utility pole nearby was on fire. A MGLD crew cut electrical service to the home.
At 6:57 a.m. wires were down at Oak and Fell streets.
DPW Director Joe Conway expected crews from the Forestry and Parks divisions to be cleaning up debris around town into Friday. He urged residents to call 781-246-6301, extension 4120, to get on a cleanup list.
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Other communities surrounding Wakefield also felt the brunt of the powerful nor’easter.
In Reading, for example, a tree and utility pole came down on Haverhill Street, forcing the closure of that significant artery this morning.
School was cancelled today in Lynnfield. Main Street from Summer Street to Chestnut Street was closed. Summer Street was closed at Walnut Street. Forest Hill Avenue was closed at Lincoln Avenue.
In Melrose, roughly 22 percent of the city’s resident were without power this morning.
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According to the Associated Press today, wind gusts reached up to 90 mph on Cape Cod and about 200,000 Massachusetts residents were impacted by power outages. The storm left nearly 200,000 people without power in Maine too.
About 100 school districts reported closings and delays Thursday morning due to no electricity or downed trees and powerlines in New Hampshire, where 50,000 people were without power.
Nearly 20 school districts closed schools in Connecticut, where about 40,000 customers were without power.
About 34,000 customers were without power in Rhode Island and about 10,000 customers were without power in Vermont.
The storm was moving out of the region today.
