HOMES FLOODED, POWER OUTAGES ALONG MASSACHUSETTS COAST FROM WINTER STORM JUNO. THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER ON NANTUCKET ISLAND
January 27, 2015
Thousands of Massachusetts residents remained without
power Tuesday as a snowstorm packing near hurricane-force winds continued to
wallop coastal communities and force the evacuation of nearly a dozen people on
the island of Nantucket. Massachusetts State Police reported downtown Nantucket
streets were flooded and at least 11 people had to be evacuated from their
homes as waters surged 7 feet in some low-lying areas.
Power and some wireless service was cut to the entire
island, Nantucket Police Chief William Pittman told NBC News. Utility company
National Grid said it was working to restore power for its 12,800 customers.
AT&T service remained down Tuesday afternoon but Verizon said its customers
were getting reception.
Nantucket Cottage Hospital wrote in a tweet that they
were open and running on a generator, and doctors even delivered a
"blizzard baby" just before 4 a.m. ET. Pittman told MSNBC
that he would have a better sense of when power would return after 12:30 p.m.
As the storm picked up overnight Monday, the strong wind
gusts of more than 75 miles per hour and high tides created 4-foot-high waves
and sent water crashing over sea defenses along the coast. Pittman said the
streets were filled with water because the storm drains were frozen and
"the water had no way of getting back out."
He said they are also watching the possibility of more
intense flooding when the high tide comes in around 6 p.m.
Dave Fronzuto, of Nantucket Emergency Management, said
flooding on the island is normal during a Nor'easter but this storm has been
especially brutal for residents. "The long duration of the storm is what's
really hurting them," he added.
Marshfield was one of the low-lying towns on the
Massachusetts coast being hammered by the storm surge. Eric Murphy, a
44-year-old pest control worker, told NBC News there was four feet of water in
the street outside his house. "We do get flooding here but this is the
worst I've seen in the 15 years I've lived here," he said from his home in
the Brant Rock neighborhood. "My house is on stilts but another few inches
and we might be in trouble."
Murphy, who lives with his wife and three young
daughters, said he woke up at 3 a.m. ET to move his car when water was already
coming up the street. "My neighbor has water coming under the door and
several cars have been submerged."
A flooded street in Brant Rock, a neighborhood of the
town of Marshfield, Massachusetts, after a winter storm on Jan. 27, 2015.