Downed trees, power outages persist after second round of snow

By JULIAN MENDOZA

Staff Writer

Published: 01-26-2023 5:36 PM

Parts of Franklin County and the North Quabbin region are still recovering from this week’s snowstorms, which caused power outages and road closures that extended into Thursday.

“Honestly, there’s a lot to deal with,” Joe Cuneo, fire chief for Wendell and New Salem, said when reached by phone on Thursday.

Several inches of snow fell Sunday into Monday, causing nearly 57% of both New Salem and Warwick National Grid customers, 28% of Wendell and Phillipston customers and 21% of Shutesbury customers to be without power as of Monday afternoon, according to National Grid’s outage map. Further outages occurred when storm conditions returned on Wednesday.

As of early Thursday afternoon, 1,057 customers remain without power across Franklin County, according to National Grid’s outage map. The North Quabbin region and Shutesbury experienced the most significant lingering power outage though Thursday, with just short of 1,000 combined customers affected as of the early afternoon. This included 405 Wendell customers, 283 New Salem customers and 262 Shutesbury customers, making them the state’s three most-affected municipalities.

Around 30 customers remain without power in western Franklin County, the next most-affected area. The storm’s overall aftermath, though, extended beyond simply what the number of lingering power outages suggests.

“It’s been rough on our trees up here,” Hawley Highway Superintendent Gary Mitchell said. “Everything’s been coming down. We’ve been cutting around the roads to really get through.”

“It is winter in New England,” Colrain Town Coordinator Kevin Fox said. “I’ll leave it at that for effect.”

The storms rolled in at an inopportune time for both Hawley and Colrain. Hawley, which still has road closures at Labelle Road and Dodge Road, has been impeded by mechanical issues with one of its smaller utility vehicles.

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“We’ve got a lot of narrow roads where you can put the pickup in there a lot better than the big truck,” Mitchell said Thursday afternoon, adding that he hoped for roads to be completely cleared by that evening.

Meanwhile, Colrain’s four-person Highway Department is dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak that has sidelined three workers, Fox said. The town was able to call in an additional driver, however, and the department managed to combat storm conditions over “several long days.”

“Our Highway Department has been working very hard to keep roads as passable as possible,” Fox said.

“We have had a lot of compliments about the road crew doing good jobs on the road this year,” Selectboard Chair Michael Slowinski added. “They’re working very hard and have done a good job.”

Meanwhile, a state of emergency remains in effect in Northfield, as Wednesday night’s snow and rain “caused more damage on already covered trees,” according to a notice on the town website.

Gulf Road in Northfield is expected to be closed for the next two days as more than 30 trees have fallen there, the notice continues. Although Warwick Road allows for access to all houses in Northfield, drivers will not be able to reach Warwick by that route for another day or two.

Similar problems are being dealt with in Bernardston. A post on the town’s Facebook page explains more than 80 trees fell throughout town on Sunday and Monday, and another 120 or more came down on Wednesday. Town officials have contacted the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency for help.

“Our highway crew is doing the best they can to open roadways,” the post reads, “but with that many trees, full cleanup is going to take time.”

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.

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