Thursday, December 15, 2011
The hearing will be held in Tyngsborough.
Selectmen will speak tonight to state officials at the state's public hearing regarding National Grid's response to Snowtober. The Department of Public Utilities last month announce it was opening an investigation into efforts by National Grid on the matter. "The department conducts this investigation pursuant to its authority to open an investigation upon its own initiative to determine whether an electric or gas distribution company has violated the department’s standards regarding acceptable performance for emergency preparedness and restoration of service," according to a state press release on the matter. The hearing tonight will take place at 7 p.m. at Tyngsborough High School, 36 Norris Road. Anyone impacted by the storm is also …
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Selectmen and residents are still without unanswered questions from Snowtober.
As work crews continue through Chelmsford to clean up brush that Snowtober left behind, selectmen last night mulled how to best proceed to get answers from National Grid about their response to the storm. Former Selectman and Town Meeting Rep. Clare Jeannotte spoke during open session to encourage selectmen to do "even more" than they already are. "My perspective goes back to the Dec. 2008 ice storm. I was without for 5 days. I thought this was a once in a life time occurance, maybe twice," she said. "And the worry I have now is the more you hear about response ... You might hear about it becoming the new normal." Jeannotte said she believes selectmen are the town's voice in the matter. "There is a lot of investigation to do to mitigate …
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Given the recent thoughts and criticisms, your officials want to know.
Welcome to Question of the Week, a weekly column where we ask you anything at all. This question comes as a request from Selectman Jim Lane. Tell us in the comments.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
You Ask ... Patch Answers tackles this question.
Welcome to You Ask ... Patch Answers, a column where we do our best to answer you questions about anything going on in town. Got a question? E-mail it to krista@patch.com. Question: Why didn't the town open a shelter during the late October snowstorm? Answer: Town Manager Paul Cohen said the question of opening a shelter came up repeatedly during the town's emergency management meetings. "Drawing upon previous experience with the (December 2008) ice storm and August tropical storm, people like to stay at home. Mass Emergency Management offered a regional at the Seniore Center in Lowell. During the ice storm they opened Lowell High School as a shelter but with the expected light turn out, they went to the senior center. We did not open one …
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Selectmen last night heard from some residents on both ends of the spectrum.
Selectmen last night heard from residents and discussed the decisions made in the aftermath of last month's unseasonable snowstorm. Resident George Hart called the power outage disaster "completely preventable" due to National Grid's "deliberate profit-oriented gross negligence." Particularly, National Grid had neglected to remove tree branches that posed potential dangers in the event of a storm, he said. "The electric utilities have hollowed out what used to be an adequate level of line crews to handle this type of storm," Hart wrote in a letter to selectmen. "They now go on the happy but misguided assumption that no stomr will be this widespread in its impact." Susan Graves told selectmen she was proud of her town after Snowtober, …
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Brad the Dad learned a few things during Snowtober's power outage, but the source of this knowledge is what might surprise you the most.
Five nights without power. Five nights without power, with two kids and a dog. But, when you consider that over the past year we have seen earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, fires, and floods a plenty across the nation, in retrospect, five nights without power is not that big of a deal. The truth is that Vermont is still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Irene, so a little time in the dark while temperatures were still above freezing should be a piece of cake. The only problem is that, when you are living it, such rational thought and perspective are not present. By day three I was spent, angry, and completely irrational; and I wasn't the only one. Thankfully I had an expert in perspective at my side - my 4-year-old. As the saying …
David Bishop and Allie Lotto lost their furnace, home theater equipment and more.
Alexandra Lotto and her fiance David Bishop lost more than just power thanks to Snowtober – they're going to be out about $6,000 thanks to a power surge that destroyed the furnace, the home theatre and everything else that wasn't plugged into a surge protector. Lotto, who lives on Lovett Lane, said power came back on Wednesday night in her neighborhood as soon as it did, it was clear there was a problem. “Everything in the house turned on and the lights were so bright, it was clear there was so much power. I heard sizzling upstairs and I yelled to my fiancé to shut it off,” she said. Lotto checked the meter and saw instead of the normal 120 volts of electricity coming into the home through a split feed, all 240 volts were coming through …
Friday, November 4, 2011
Some pictures of the damage done by the unseasonable snowfall.
Town Manager Paul Cohen said 245 customers are still without power, but are expected to get power today.
While most families in town can finally take a warm shower after the late October snow storm, about 245 households are still without power. Town Manager Paul Cohen said those customers are expected to be restored today. The town will also offer a brush drop off for residents Nov. 12 and Nov. 19 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Community Tree, 163 Billerica Road. Due to the storm, Halloween trick-or-treating has also been rescheduled for Sunday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Town Manager Paul Cohen said only isolated pockets will left for National Grid to work on today.
Town Manager Paul Cohen said power has been restored to about 90 percent of the town's residents, and National Grid will work on the isolated pockets of town without power today. More than 30 line crews and 15 tree crews worked in town yesterday to restore power to the 25 percent of households without it - about 3,600 customers. After four days without school, kids are back in classrooms today and many residents are back home from hotels or their friend's houses where they were keeping warm or taking showers. Cohen said aside from communicating more frequently, there wasn't much more National Grid could have done to restore power faster, since it was such a widespread event. "There are people here from Michigan and North Carolina," he said…
Sunny
6:48 pm on Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Is there any communication between Chelmsford and nearby towns, we all share the Oct. snowfall and similar natural features? I propose a meeting with town representative (for example, selectman) from each town and State Reps might be beneficial; Town of Groton has their electric company but ask for assistance for "cherry picker" truck. For 5 days, my house was without electric for both Snowober … more ›