CAPE COD – Utility crews have been working through the night and will continue until all power is restored. As of 8 AM, 50,000 are without power across the Cape. That is down from a peak of a little over 80,000. 15,000 of those are in the town of Barnstable. The towns of Chatham and Eastham are still almost completely without power.
10:30 AM update: We reported earlier some agencies on the Cape were having trouble during the storm with generators failing and connectivity issues. This is from Eastham Police Chief Adam Bohannon: Good morning, this is Chief Bohannon at the Eastham Police Department.
First, my apologies for not being able to place a call yesterday at 6pm as promised. In addition to losing power like everyone else, the Eastham Police Facility generator failed. With that went most of our electricity and internet capabilities. We spent much of the evening hours obtaining a large backup generator, and having it wired into our facility. I am happy to report that we are back to functioning at close to 100%.
The Eastham DPW worked through the night trying to keep our streets open for emergency vehicles. Blowing and drifting snow made this extremely difficult. Today we ask again that you please stay off of the roadways, if possible, to allow snow removal crews to work and to allow emergency vehicles space to work.
Some power in Eastham was restored overnight. We are still about 73% out of power, but that is down about 20% from last night. We will be meeting with Eversource this morning to obtain a better idea of restoration efforts and timing. There is still a significant amount of work to be done.
The Barnstable County Regional Shelter at Nauset High School remains open and fully staffed with volunteers to help those in need, along with your pets. If you need to leave your home and have a friend or family member that you can stay with, that is a better option! The shelter has limited food, no shower facilities, no wifi connectivity, and currently the heating system is struggling to keep up. We continue to ask that the shelter be a last resort for these reasons and due to Covid19. Having said that, it is there if you need it. Please contact the Eastham Police Department at 508-255-0551 if you need to go to the shelter but are unable to transport yourself there. We are working towards possibly opening a warming center at the Eastham Public Library during the day today. More information will be forthcoming on that.
Please be patient today as we continue storm cleanup and work with Eversource towards power restoration. This has been a difficult storm for all of us but we are hopeful that with the snow over and the sun coming up, we will see some improvements coming quickly.
Eversource/CWN
In other developments, a MedFlight helicopter is landing at Falmouth Hospital at this hour. According to reports a person fell and struck their head. Although the exact circumstances are unclear, its a good time to remind people to be careful as they start to dig out. Fortunately the snow is fairly powderly but shoveling these amounts can easily lead to injuries and even heart attacks from over exertion so please take it slow and take plenty of breaks.
2:30 PM update: Steady progress with power outages down to 38,000 from 50,000 this morning. Eversource hopes to have all power restored by midnight Monday, most customers will get sooner. CWN has gotten some dramatic video into the newsroom of yesterday’s raging fire on Silver Beach Avenue in Falmouth:
fa012922 Silver Beach Ave fire from Cape Wide News LLC on Vimeo.
6 PM Update: Progress continues with just over 19,000 customers still without power. That is half of what it was at 2:30 PM. One place seems to be still particularly hard it and that is Chatham where 7,300 of the 8,500 customers are still in the dark. CWN has reached out to Eversource to determine what is slowing down progress in that town. We will let you know when we hear anything from the utility.
8 PM update: Here is the latest update from the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee: The Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee (BCREPC) met at 4:00 PM on Sunday afternoon to share information on the regional response to this weekend’s nor’easter, and to conclude this series of regional response.
WEATHER
• Overnight tonight, cold temperatures 10F to 12F degrees
• Snow accumulation totals vary widely and have been difficult to determine due to wind and rain mixed in at times. However, the highest total is believed to be in the Upper Cape area at 16-17 inches.
BARNSTABLE COUNTY MACC AND MEMA UPDATE
The Multi-Agency Coordination Center (MACC) continues to respond to resource requests as needed and is working with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to source additional resources. The MACC will remain open overnight to support the shelter at the Barnstable Intermediate School and any community needs.
MEMA worked together with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT) to source a front-end loader for the Town of Sandwich, allowing for several roads to be cleared and opened for emergency access today.
UTILITIES | COMMUNICATIONS
As of this 6:30 PM, approximately 15,282 homes on Cape Cod remained without power. A global estimated time of restoration (ETR) remains at 11:59 PM on Monday. Global restoration is achieved when 99% of an affected region has been restored. Eversource cautions the public to remain aware of utility trucks working to clear snow; children and pets should be kept well away from the roads. Please continue to report power outages to Eversource at 800-592-2000.
National Grid anticipates power on Nantucket to be restored by Monday morning.
Verizon is not reporting any capacity issues.
Comcast: Media Alert 006 incorrectly stated that Comcast was experiencing capacity issues. No capacity issues have been reported by Comcast today.
SHELTER STATUS
One regional emergency shelter remains open tonight:
• Barnstable Intermediate School – 895 Falmouth Rd., Hyannis 02601
The Barnstable Intermediate School shelter will remain activated until tomorrow, Monday, January 31.
Thanks to the volunteer efforts of 24 AmeriCorps Cape Cod members and staff, regional CERT Teams, and the Cape Cod Medical Reserve Corps, the shelters were able to serve a total of just over 60 shelter attendees.
PUBLIC IS ENCOURAGED TO CONTINUE EXERCISING CAUTION WHEN DRIVING
Crews are still working to clear the roads and ask the public to avoid travel.
Eversource/CWN
11 PM update: We did not hear back from Eversource as of press time but the majority of Chatham residents have gotten their power back. Just under 3,000 customers with out power Cape wide. 1,300 of those are in Barnstable and 900 in Eastham.
CWN will continue to update progress in this article through the day.
