Hit and Run

by Glenn C. Koenig, webmaster at Town Wide Mall

Maynard, MA - An intense fast moving thunderstorm treated Maynard residents to high winds, frequent lightning and thunder, and intense downpours for about an hour this afternoon, starting around 2:30 PM.
When it had finally moved on, the storm left plenty of damage in the form of downed trees and tree limbs, as well as damaged utility lines and power outages.  Maynard Police and Public Works Department staff were kept busy all afternoon and into the night, assessing the damage, cleaning up, and redirecting traffic around the problem areas.  Other adjacent towns, such as Sudbury, Stow, and Acton were also hit with trees down, impassable roads, and power outages.  For awhile, Powder Mill Road in West Concord had to be closed, because a very large tree fell across the road, blocking all lanes of traffic.  Maynard drivers had to find a detour back around through Acton to reach West Concord Center and subsequently head over to Route 2.

Winds were strong enough to snap a utility pole in half.  The pole is located on Walnut Street, next to the Assabet River, just down from the intersection with Main Street.

Nearby residents and some businesses lost power almost immediately and a section of the road had to be closed by police.

Around the corner, on River Street a dead tree trunk broke just above ground level and fell across utility lines.  According to police, Eversource estimated that it would take until midnight Saturday night before the damage on both streets could be repaired and all power restored.

Later on this evening, police reported that Eversource could not give a firm estimated time of arrival to begin work, so it is uncertain whether repairs will be completed at the day and time originally estimated.

Meanwhile, Maynard Department of Public Works crews were called to remove substantial tree limbs that had fallen across some roads and public ways.  Here, in the photo at right, they worked to reopen the Assabet River Rail Trail.

The trail was blocked in the section along Maple Street, behind Nason Street Shops and Restaurants, as it heads down toward the Assabet River foot bridge.  (story continues, below)

In other parts of town, smaller tree limbs and branches fell onto roads, sidewalks, and private property, leaving both the town and some residents facing clean-up tasks over the next few days.  Some of these will have to wait while crews attend to more urgent storm damage and residents work out how deal with what remains on their own properties.

  Comment

Why does it take so long to get power restored?  As with any storm, utility crews must prioritize where to focus first, restoring power to essential services such as hospitals, fire departments, and other emergency facilities.  The more widespread the damage is (multiple cities and towns), the more work there is to do.
Although many of these facilities have their own backup generators, generators typically only cover a portion of the energy needs of the facility, so it's still important to restore full power as soon as possible.
In the case of the pole on Walnut Street, even when Eversource crews arrive, they must completely disassemble the pole and all the fixtures on it, dig into the ground to remove the remnants of the original pole, hoist a new pole into place and secure it into the ground.
Once the new pole is in place, they must add all the necessary new hardware to the pole at the proper height for each service, including high voltage three phase power lines at the very top, then service voltage power lines below that. They must also coordinate with other utility providers, such as Verizon and Eversource, to remount telephone, coaxial, and fiber optic lines.  There may also be street lamps and the wiring for them, fire alarm boxes, or other communication lines or devices.

When it comes to other trees and debris in along the public ways, the town has only a small number of people to staff DPW crews, so each location has to be addressed one at a time, typically.

Once major limbs are cut up and removed and roads are reopened, there is still the matter of other debris that can clog storm drain grates.  If these are not kept open, there is a greater risk of street flooding when the next storm comes along.


Residents can help in this process by removing as much leaf and other debris from storm drain grates near their properties.

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