Town Manager Asks Public To Be Patient With Plowing

Huge amounts of snow, mechanical failures add to challenges.

Town Manager Richard Montuori said Tewksbury has weathered the Blizzard of '13 fairly well but he is asking the public to be patient when it comes to the clearing of the town roads. As estimated 27 inches of snow buried the town over a span of around 26 hours. But despite the heavy snowfall and winds that topped 35 MPH, Tewksbury avoided the widespread power outages that impacted more than 160,000 National Grid customers, mostly to the east and southeast. "Overall things have gone well considering the magnitude of the storm," said Montuori. "We have been told by National Grid that there are 150 customers without power in the Merrimack Valley and one in Tewksbury. According to National Grid's liaison, power should be restored by this …

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UPDATED: Nearly 5,000 National Grid Customers Without Power

Outages caused by transformer fire.

UPDATE: 11:30 p.m. Power has been restored to nearly all Tewksbury customers impacted by this evening's outage. Only small, scattered pockets remain in the dark. Original story More than 9,000 National Grid customers were without power Sunday night, including nearly 5,000 in Tewksbury. The outages, which spread into sections of Wilmington and Andover, were triggered by a transformer fire on Route 38 near the Knights of Columbus. Power went out just after 8 p.m. Tewksbury Firefighters and National Grid crews responded to the scene. There is no immediate word on when power will be restored.

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National Grid Activates 'Emergency Response System' for Second Time in 10 Days

National Grid said it is ready to go with more than 500 crews in the event of power outages from Wednesday night's Nor'Easter.

National Grid, the electric utility that had hundreds of thousands of customers without power in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy including more than 1,000 in Hamilton and Wenham, said it is ready for Wednesday night’s Nor’Easter. The latest storm first moved in on Wednesday morning and is expected to last into Thursday with high winds, heavy rain and some heavy wet snow to the west and north. National Grid said it is ready to respond to any power outages that may occur as a result of the weather. In Tewksbury, the snow began falling around 9 p.m. There are more than 500 line and tree crews available and ready to respond to any storm-related outages, plus more than 200 “wires-down” personnel. That includes both National Grid crews and …

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Montuori Proud Of Town's Response To Hurricane Sandy

Early planning, extra staffing paid dividends.

Hurricane Sandy came through the region as advertised. High winds mixed with occasionally heavy rain combined to take down trees from one end of town to the other on Monday. On many streets, such as Fiske Street, East Street, Chandler Street, Woburn Street, Brook Street, South Street and Dirlam Circle, the trees brought down power lines with them. More than 2,500 National Grid customers lost power at some point during the storm and more than 1,300 were still in the dark as of Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Town Manager Richard Montuori said he believes National Grid is aiming to have 100 percent power restored by tonight. On other roads, such as Henry J. Drive and Pike Street, the wires were safe but falling trees blocked the roadway. Police …

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UPDATED: More than 2,300 Lose Power, Dirlam Circle Residents Cut Off

National Grid and DPW crews working feverishly to deal with damage from storm.

UPDATE: 8 p.m. As of 8 p.m., National Grid had restored power to around 2,100 residents in the Long Pond/Whipple Road area. There are still more than 200 residents without power, including a 79 customer cluster of Fiske Street in North Tewksbury. Tewksbury Patch will continue to keep you posted on the latest outage information. Original Story Hurricane Sandy may have made landfall in New Jersey but her impact has certainly been felt in Tewksbury. Trees, limbs and utility wires are down from one end of town to the other, leaving more than 2,300 customers without power as of 7:30 p.m. Most of those in the dark are in the Long Pond/Whipple Road area. But the biggest problem is being felt by those living on Dirlam Circle, who were cut off from…

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UPDATE: Severe Thunderstorms, Wind Gusts and Hail Possible Today

A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for eastern Massachusetts until 8 pm. on Tuesday.

Potential severe thunderstorms producing damaging wind gusts and hail will pass through the greater Boston area around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned earlier this afternoon. The NWS issued a severe thunderstorm watch shortly before 2 p.m. for eastern Massachusetts, citing a line of strong thunderstorms moving southeast at 35 miles per hour and extending from the Massachusetts-Vermont border to Manchester and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The alert was upgraded to a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Middlesex County as of 3 p.m. The NWS said the thunderstorm line will reach the Route 2 corridor in northern Mass by 2:30 p.m. and Worcester and Boston around 3 p.m. Along with strong wind gusts and the potential for …

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Trees Felled By High Winds But Outages Limited

The following information was supplied by the Tewksbury Police department. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction.

A windstorm with gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour felled trees and tree limbs across Tewksbury on Saturday. But unlike previous storms, power outages were limited. According to Tewksbury Police Department reports, the worst damage happened at 686 Whipple Road, where a tree came down and destroyed a deck, narrowly missing the home. A home was stuck by a tree on Columbia Road but there was no structural damage, according to the report. There were several reports of trees coming down across streets, including Mount Joy Drive, Livingston Street, Astle Road and Trull Road. Power lines came down in some instances but outages were localized and less that 200 customers lost power at various times during the day. Arrest: Anthony J. Ferraro, 28…

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Winter Weather Update

Wild Winter Winds Expected Today

Wind gusts of nearly 50 miles per hour could make conditions hazardous in Tewksbury.

Tewksbury residents are bracing themselves as strong winds are expected to whip through the region throughout Friday. The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for eastern Massachusetts Friday. A rainy and foggy morning is expected to give way to partly sunny skies in the afternoon, but don't let that fool you. That sunshine is also expected to be accompanied by winds of up to 25 miles per hour. And Friday night could be worse, with temperatures dropping below freezing -- turning the wet, puddled roads into ice -- and wind gusts of up to almost 50 miles per hour. In response to the chaos that the region endured after the October storm, National Grid is preparing for the possibility of widespread power outages that…

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