Storm Cleanup Continues as Power Restored

Staff reports
iBerkshires
03:16PM / Monday, December 15, 2008

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The hilltowns are slowly recovering from the icy blast last Thursday that downed trees and power lines, leaving thousands without power.

Florida Town Administrator Christine Dobbert said about 50 people were still without power Monday morning and many of the side roads are still treacherous. "There's a lot of debris on the side of the road."

The storm left up to an inch of ice on trees and lines across the Northeast, canceling schools and closing roads in eastern New York, southwest Vermont and Berkshire hilltowns. Florida and Savoy in North Berkshires bore the brunt of the storm, as did Becket, Otis, Peru, Washington and Windsor. Power has still not been restored to thousands in the hilltowns.

The Central Berkshire Regional School District and Gabriel Abbott School in Florida were closed because of power outages and road conditions. Dobbert said power has been restored to Town Hall, the Fire Department and the Abbott School but the school will still be closed tomorrow.

Sandy Totter of Savoy sent us these pictures showing what the storm did to her town.

"There's a phone line down in front of the school and we still have low-lying lines across the roads that buses can't get under," she said. "There are a lot of low trees, too, and some of the roads aren't wide enough for the buses get through."

Town crews have been out all weekend clearing side roads and helping the state with clean up on Route 2. Compounding the problem was the slippery conditions of the roads, said Dobbert. "The roads were a sheet of ice and had to be sanded and salted first."

One Savoy resident said driving through the woods on Center Road would have been easier than driving on the road because so many trees and power lines were down. She reported that not a single tree on her wooded lot escaped injury.

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Freezing Rain Covers Berkshires, Closes Schools Storms Icy Grip Leaves Thousands Without Power

Western Massachusetts Electric and National Grid crews worked all weekend trying to restore power to thousands of homes in the Berkshires. Locally, Western Mass Electric reported that more than 5,000 customers were without power this morning and, statewide, 133,000 electrical customers were still in the dark. The largest numbers of those without power include over 3,000 electrical customers in Otis and Becket alone. Also affected is telephone service with only cell phone service available to many. Power is not expected to be fully restored until midweek at best.

Most of the valley areas received up to 2 inches of rain rather than the icy mix that covered the higher elevations. Temperatures were brisk over the weekend but, in a Berkshires twist, tt was a balmy, if wet, 58 degrees on Main Street this afternoon. The National Weather service says those temperatures will drop to freezing and the rain will turn to more sleet and, possibly, snow tonight and over the next few days.
 
The hardy residents of Savoy and Florida turned to woodstoves and generators to make it through the weekend, although a few headed down the mountain to stay with friends and family, said Dobbert.

Sandy Totter of Savoy said her family made it through with the use of a generator and woodstoves. "Pretty spartan but kinda fun, too," she e-mailed. Totter, program director for the Northern Berkshire Solid Waste District, provided photos showing what the storm did to Savoy.