Dec 12, 2008 10:03 pm US/Eastern
Mass. & N.H. Declare States Of Emergency
Power Lines Down, Roads Impassable From Downed Trees & Flooding
WORCESTER (WBZ) ―
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This is a picture of a tree that was completely knocked down onto a house on Beverly Rd. in Worcester, Ma.
WBZ/Curtis Stake
An ice storm that caused widespread power outages, road closures and school closings prompted Governors Deval Patrick and John Lynch to declare States of Emergency for Massachusetts and New Hampshire respectively.
The move clears the way to mobilize the
National Guard to help local communities with their storm recovery efforts.
POWER OUTAGES
Governor Deval Patrick said at least 350,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts were without power at the height of the disaster, and he said it could be days before crews could even begin reconnecting lines. The first step was to safely clear the debris laying across power lines.
"This is not going to be a couple of hours," Patrick said. "It's likely to be several days." He said Monday was an ambitious deadline.
Patrick urged people to call 211 if they needed help finding shelter.
In New Hampshire, at least 320,000 PSNH customers were without power –more than half of the state's customers.
Read More: 650,000+ Without Power
Ice is collecting on tree limbs, weighing them down until they snap and come down on power lines, said Peter Judge of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. The transmission lines themselves are also icing up. National Grid is warning people not to approach downed lines, even if they don't appear to be live.
LOCAL STATES OF EMERGENCY
Judge called the problems "significant" and said many small towns, especially along the Route 2 corridor, declared their own states of emergency. Judge said 20-25 communities had declared their own States of Emergency.
"Stay home if you live in Holden, don't come to Holden if you work here," Holden fire Chief Jack Chandler said on Friday.
At one point, the entire town was without power and some senior citizens on oxygen had to be transported to either the hospital or a shelter opened at the town's senior center.
The town of Sterling in Worcester County asked residents to stay off the roads on Friday. "It's terrible out there," police Chief Gary Chamberland said.
For some time, the main two arteries in Sterling were impassable. Chamberland said even emergency personnel could not get to work.
WESTERN MASS.
Western Massachusetts Electric Co. reported more than tens of thousands of customers without power. Some towns, including Becket, Windsor, Cummington and Middlefield, are experiencing near blackout conditions.
Officials do not even know the full extent of the problem because some towns have municipal utilities, Judge said. The good news is there have been no reports of weather related injuries, he said.
"Some high-voltage lines affected are on rural rights of way in remote areas and we're not sure if we can even get to them," said Jackie Barry of PSNH.
STORM'S FIRST REPORTED DEATH
Officials in Danville, N.H. say a man has died of carbon monoxide poisoning after he hooked up his generator during the ice storm. The man, whose name has not been released, lived in a camper and turned on the generator when his power went out around 10 p.m. Thursday
SHELTERS
MEMA has the following shelters open for those needing assistance:
Brimfield Elementary School
Arlington School, Lawrence
Auburn Senior Center
Charlton Senior Center
Eagle Hill School in Hardwick
Hardwick Senior Center
Atlantic Union College, Lancaster
Turkey Hill Middle School, Lunenburg
VMS Building, Ashburnham
JR Briggs Elementary School, Ashburnham
Worcester Wire Village School
Williamsburg Anne T. Dunphy School
Quabbin High School
Orange Armory
(© 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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