Crime & Safety

Medfield Departments Busy Cleaning Up in Aftermath of Irene

Medfield Police Chief Robert Meaney Jr. said as of Monday afternoon, several areas of town are still without power and several streets are being cleared of trees.

Medfield is still dealing with downed trees, wires and power outages from Tropical Storm/Hurricane Irene as of Monday afternoon, according to Medfield Chief of Police Robert E. Meaney Jr.

Sunday’s storm has left more than 372,000 across Massachusetts without power as of Monday afternoon, according to the Associated Press via Fox 25, with power outages peaking at over 500,000 on Sunday.

Amy Zorich of National Grid, the state's largest utility, told the Associated Press it could be a week before power is fully restored to its customers.

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NSTAR reported on its website that about 200,000 customers –incuding "110,000 in Greater New Bedford, on Cape Cod and on the South Shore" – were without power as of 5:30 a.m., according to Sharon Patch.

"Crews will continue working around the clock until all customers are restored, but due to the widespread nature of the damage, NSTAR is warning customers that they could be out for several days," the utility said.

Find out what's happening in Medfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In Medfield, Meaney said there are “still locations in town without power” but NSTAR will not accept a list of power outages in town from .

“They have reinforced that with us,” Meaney said. “NSTAR can usually determine if there are a large number of houses out [of power] but will not be able to determine individual ones. Those [individual outages] need to be called in by the individual residences or businesses. The number to contact NSTAR is 1-800-592-2000.”

In addition to power outages, the town still has several streets that are not clear and are currently being worked on by the Highway Department.

“Granite, Bridge and Plain Streets are being cleared of tress,” Menaey said. “There are still some streets not clear due to wires being tangled up with the trees and branches across the road. NSTAR has just agreed to send us a crew, which will be supplemented by the Medfield Highway Department with a tree crew and a police cruiser for traffic.”

Meaney is hopeful NSTAR’s crew coupled with the highway department and police detail will “expedite clearing the roads and restoring more power.”

The town’s major concerns Monday are clearing the roads and wires from downed trees and restoring power. After those issues have been addressed, it will focus on the rest of the cleanup from Sunday’s storm.

“Cleanup of branches in and beside the road[s] will take longer as long as it does not constitute a safety hazard,” Meaney said. “Between the police, fire and highway [departments], we probably know where most of the issues are that need to be dealt with.”

Meaney said the Transfer Station will be open all week, Monday through Saturday, as residents clean up their yards and property.

A Word of Caution from Police Chief:

Meaney reminded residents not to touch or go near any downed wires and treat any as if it is live. Residents who see any downed wires should contact Medfield Police at (508) 359-2315.

 “Always assume that any wire is live and do not go near it or touch it,” Meaney said. “This holds true even if you think that it is not an electric wire. It may well be a telephone wire, which may also be in contact with a live electric wire somewhere else in the tangle … do not touch it.”

Monday Notes – The Aftermath of Irene in Medfield:

  • on 50 North St. said on its Facebook page it has power and would open as usual.
  • was busier than usual this morning with people in need of coffee and electricity.
  • opened to a small crowd of people waiting to get in and use services, i.e. computer and electricity.
  • Medfield Fire Chief William Kingsbury was in front of this morning sweeping branches and tree limbs away from the steps and walkway with his feet.
  • DPW trucks have been seen throughout the day on the side of the road collecting tree limbs and branches.

Share Your Storm Stories and Photos with Medfield Patch:

Now that Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene is gone and Medfield takes necessary efforts to restore order and clean up its mess, we want to hear from you! Share your stories of the storm and/or photos of the damage in your area or around town and we will publish it on Medfield Patch! We’ve had a lot of interaction on Medfield Patch’s Facebook page regarding the storm and would like to get more readers involved! E-mail stories and/or photos to local editor Jeremie Smith at Jeremie.Smith@patch.com.


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