BARNSTABLE – Governor Charlie Baker visited with emergency responders, utility officials and local lawmakers Wednesday to discuss the nor’easter recovery efforts.
“It’s been a pretty crazy couple of weeks for everyone down here on the Cape and across the Commonwealth,” he said.
Baker held a recovery roundtable meeting at the Barnstable County Multi-Agency Coordination Center in Barnstable Village.
According to the governor, by the time all power is back on line from the latest storm, more than one million customers will have dealt with power outages since the first storm
“Barnstable County was getting hit a lot harder on the outage side across the Commonwealth,” said Baker in explaining his reason for making the Cape Cod visit.
Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton (l), Governor Charlie Baker (c) and Barnstable County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Sean O’Brien
“It (power outages) has huge consequences for people and businesses,” he said.
The governor also praised all the emergency management workers who been on the job around the clock.
State Representative Will Crocker (l), State Representative Sarah Peake (c) and State Senator Vinny deMadedo
Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beaton said the region has been dealing with an, “an unprecedented volume of outages in recent weeks.”
Baker was joined by several members of the Cape’s legislative delegation, including Plymouth/Barnstable State Senator Vinny deMacedo and Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr.
State Representatives Will Crocker, Tim Whelan, Sarah Peake and Randy Hunt were also be on hand.
Several of the state representatives said in addition to the problem with the power failures, many Cape Codders lost cell service, specifically AT&T customers.
Hunt, who represents portions of the Upper Cape and Plymouth, said we can’t accept the excuse that being an ocean-side community leads to more outages.,
“You have to build your utility to withstand the conditions wherever your utility is,” Hunt said.
Several town officials and emergency managers from around the Cape, Barnstable County Sheriff Jim Cummings and Barnstable County Commission Chair Leo Cakounes joined with the governor to review the status of power recovery.
Sandwich Town Manager Bud Dunham, Barnstable Town Manager Mark Ells and emergency management officials from their respective towns were on hand.
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