NANTUCKET WAS SPARED THE
HEAVY SNOW, BUT IT SAW HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS THAT GUSTED TO 78 MPH, PARTS OF
THE ISLAND FLOODED, AND AN ICE STORM BLACKED OUT THE ENTIRE ISLAND AFTER ICE
COATED BOTH TRANSFORMERS IN A SUBSTATION
January 29, 2015
NANTUCKET , MASS.
Massachusetts' governor visited members of the National
Guard and other first responders on Nantucket Wednesday, as the electricity
provider vowed its crews "will not rest" until power is restored to
everyone on the scenic island a day after a massive snow and ice storm left the
community of more than 10,000 people in the dark.
Nearly 600 customers remained without power as
Wednesday night turned to Thursday morning, down from the 12,800 that lost
power when the island went dark Tuesday morning, utility company National Grid
said. About eighty additional workers and extra line trucks were sent on the
first ferries to Nantucket Wednesday morning to help with repairs, National
Grid spokesman Jake Navarro said.
Nantucket was spared some of the worst snowfalls
in New England, receiving a foot of snow as the nor'easter rolled through —
other parts of Massachusetts got three feet of snow. But it saw hurricane-force
winds that gusted to 78 mph, parts of the island flooded, and an ice storm blacked
out the entire island after ice coated both transformers in a substation,
officials said.
A baby was delivered in a hospital that had to
rely on a backup generator, and Nantucket's 911 line went down for a time,
Nantucket Police Chief William Pittman said.
By Wednesday, however, things had improved.
"We're back on line," Pittman told
NBC's TODAY. "We're back in the 21st century, I guess."
While Nantucket, located about 20 miles south of
Cape Cod, is known for extreme weather Navarro couldn't recall another time
that the entire island lost power. "Nantucket had that triple whammy of
hurricane force winds, and a blizzard, and an ice storm," Navarro said.
Officials were assessing the damage Wednesday.
Some buildings downtown had water up to their foundations, and grocery stores
were left without power for an extended amount of time. In a sign that things
were getting back to normal — although one school kids might not appreciate —
the town announced schools would be back open Thursday.
"Everybody pitches in, everybody does
something. If they've got a plow on their truck, they use it, if they've got a
house that's warm, they let their neighbors come in and join them. It does very
well in a storm like this," Pittman said. "This was a tough
one."
