Officials Expect Major Power Outages from Hurricane Earl

By: Laura M. Reckford
Published: 09/03/10

By LAURA M. RECKFORD
Barnstable Police Chief Paul B. MacDonald gave an overview of storm preparations to the Barnstable Town Council last night, as large teams of NStar workers from all across the country staged themselves in Hyannis and throughout the Cape to deal with expected power outages.

While last night, the storm—still hundreds of miles south southeast of Nantucket—was expected to be a Category 2 or 3 as it drew near, this morning, it was reclassified as a Category 1.

Chief MacDonald said the storm was expected to bring the region winds of
45 to 55 miles per hour with occasional wind gusts of 70 miles per hour.

The hours the hurricane will be affecting the Cape, Chief MacDonald said, are 3 PM today to 3 AM Saturday with the heaviest rain between 7 PM tonight to 3 AM Saturday.

Rainfall is expected to be two to four inches with up to six inches in isolated areas.
“But we’re dealing with Mother Nature so that’s subject to change,”
Chief MacDonald said.

The Cape has six regional shelters and five are open today, including Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich, Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School in Yarmouth, and the Oak Ridge School in Sandwich.
For residents of the town of Barnstable, the emergency shelter is located at Barnstable High School. The shelter at the high school will be open as of noon today and for the duration of the storm.

In preparation for Hurricane Earl all town beaches will be closed and gated until after the storm has passed. Sandy Neck Beach will be closed and all campers were required to be removed by this morning.

West Bay Bridge in Osterville will stop operations when winds reach 40 miles per hour.
The Bourne Bridge and Sagamore Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal will e shut if winds reach 73 miles per hour, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, which runs the bridges.

The Barnstable Police Department is strongly encouraging the public to refrain from any unnecessary travel during the storm due to expected road hazards from the impending weather.

The effects of the storm are expected to affect the Town of Barnstable from 2 PM Friday until 2 AM Saturday morning.
The damages from the storm are expected to be significant, Chief MacDonald said, with fallen trees and limbs causing significant power outages.

There are three emergency staging areas for electrical workers on the
Cape: in Falmouth, Hyannis, and Orleans. Fifty NStar crews have arrived on the Cape and approximately 70 NStar trucks were stationed beginning last night on Route 132 at Independence Drive.

The Barnstable Police and Fire departments will have extra personnel on duty and the Barnstable Department of Public Works will have extra personnel on duty beginning tonight to deal with fallen tree limbs.
Chief MacDonald asked that residents stay off town roads between 6 tonight to some time to be determined on Saturday, when roads are cleared.

The town’s cable television show “Barnstable This Morning” will have storm updates from town officials replaying all day today.
Given revised predictions on the path of the storm this morning, the Steamship Authority expects most of its ferry service to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard to continue up into this afternoon at which point they may cancel some trips, particularly on the Hyannis-Nantucket route. The authority’s high-speed passenger ferry, the M/V Iyanough, will be operating on a trip-by-trip basis today.

All trips have been canceled on the authority’s freight boats, the M/V Governor (on the Woods Hole-Martha’s Vineyard route) and the M/V Gay Head (on the Hyannis-Nantucket route). The freight boats will ride out the storm at the authority’s maintenance facility in Fairhaven, where they will remain berthed tonight due to lack of adequate berthing space during hurricane force conditions at the Hyannis and Woods Hole terminals.

The National Weather Service is now predicting the strongest winds in this area are expected to occur between tonight at 6 PM and 1 AM on Saturday.

In response to Hurricane Earl, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority has announced they will provide emergency transportation to local shelters to anyone in need. Call either 800-352-7155 or 508-385-1430 to arrange a ride. The transit authority will also be running on a limited schedule depending on the storm track. For updates check the website www.capecodrta.org.

Local Fixed Route service levels for today are the following:
The last Flex bus from the Star Market in Harwichport heading toward Provincetown will be at 3:30 PM.
The last Flex bus from Provincetown heading to Harwichport will be at 3 PM.
The Hyannis Trolley will run from 11 AM to 3 PM.
The last run of the SeaLine out of Hyannis will be 4:30 PM and the last bus from Falmouth Mall will be at 6:15 PM.
For the Whoosh Trolley in Falmouth, the last trolley from the mall to Woods Hole will be at 5:30 PM and the last trolley from Woods Hole to the mall will be 5:30 PM.
For the Barnstable Villager, the last bus heading toward the harbor from Hyannis will be at 4:30 PM and the last bus heading toward Hyannis from the harbor will be at 4:30 PM.
For B-bus services, today the transit authority will run on a regular schedule with all trips ending by 4 PM.
Elsewhere around the town of Barnstable, Cape Cod Community College is closed today.

Local animal rescue workers evacuated animals. A total of 119 animals were evacuated from the MSPCA-Cape Cod Animal Care and Adoption Center in Centerville last night and brought to the MSPCA’s adoption centers in Boston and Methuen, as well as the Animal Protection Center of Southeastern Massachusetts. The MSPCA was also assisted by members of the Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team. A breakdown of the animals is as follows: 75 cats, 13 dogs, 8 rats, 7 rabbits, 5 finches, 3 snakes,
3 Guinea Pigs, 3 gerbils, and 2 hamsters.

Local officials are focusing on preparations regarding electrical service and repairs.
Hundreds of lineworkers from as far away as Ohio and Wisconsin are teaming up with NStar crews as they get ready to repair damage expected to be caused by Hurricane Earl. Many of the crews set to join the repair effort will meet up with NStar workers at the Cape Cod Mall on Friday morning.