Nov 24, 2008 7:38 pm US/Eastern
All RMV's Shut Down By Power Outage
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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The manhole fires knocked out power in the theater district.
WBZ
The Registry of Motor Vehicles closed all 35 of its branches statewide Monday because of a
series of manhole explosions in Boston's Theater District that knocked out power to their computer servers.
Registry spokeswoman Ann Dufresne said the offices were closed for the entire day because of the outage at the State Transportation Building at 10 Park Plaza.
They were also having problems with their
Web site. Dufresne told WBZ there will be no online services or transactions for the day.
The decision to close all the branches was made by Registrar Rachel Kaprielian. She tells WBZ that she stands by her decision to close all of the RMV branches because the RMV's server was affected by the power outage this morning at the RMV headquarters.
The server connects all of the RMV's data to the branches, and because of the outages, the registrar says it was inoperable.
Kaprielian says NStar couldn't give her an exact time for the RMV to reopen, so she made the decision to close the branches for the day. "Unfortunately the information technology we house at the RMV isn't just turning on a light switch. There are a number of elements that go into it to ensure all the data is accurate, and up to speed, and there are a series of steps that are ongoing and will be completed by days end."
The registry is granting a 48-hour grace period to anyone who needed to make transactions Monday.
According Dufrane, workers were sent home for the day, but they were paid. It is still unclear how much revenue was lost because of the closings.
The RMV will be open Tuesday and Wednesday.
The explosions Monday morning knocked out power to traffic lights and to some buildings and closed several streets for hours.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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