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Hurricane Irene – Local Observations
At 845 am the wind is moderate with higher gusts; the rain is steady but the intensity varies. NECN reports that Hurricane Irene has now cleared New York City and is heading into Connecticut. The expected track will take it north-northeast through that state and then on into Central Massachusetts. Supposedly the impact on us will be more wind than rain, but probably a lot of both. NECN also reported that parts of Tyngsborough and Tewksbury are without power. Since I expect we also will lose electricity soon, I wanted to get this up and invite all readers to send us your observations and experiences (especially links to photos and video) of the storm, either by comment or by sending an email to DickHoweJr[at]gmail.com. As time and resources permit, I’ll post everything here.
power outages map
http://www1.nationalgridus.com/masselectric/stormcenter/
A very big limb just fell with an explosion as it shorted out the electricity. The limb is hanging on the wires. It’s downstream from my house so I still have power (920am) but it’s not a good sign because it’s not all that windy yet
Just got the call that the Emergency Management Command Center is up and running and a shelter will be open at the Lowell High School Gym starting at 12:00pm.
I’ll be heading over at 6pm to work the 6-12 shift.
Out walking our dog earlier in the wooded area behind our house and came upon a three-foot branch fragment stuck in the ground like a spear–the sharpened, cracked-off end six inches into the ground. Be careful out there. Wind. Gravity. Sharp objects.
At 10:15am the carillon at the nearby Baptist Chruch is pealing amid serious, sustained wind gusts, a shower of falling leaves and the dropping of smaller branches – some in the backyard are speared into the ground. Some light flickering as we hear “snapping sounds” over Deering Drive way… transformer may have gone out but need rerouted elsewhere. Wind seems more sustained in this hour must be our turn in the Merrimack Valley!
Somebody just posted a picture of one of the trees on Market St by the Mill Girls monument just went down, took out the fence, benches and into the street. We don’t have a lot of trees down here to spare!
During the period of heavy rain this AM several parts of Varnum Ave were unpassable along with the Boulevard. All the water is already gone now.
Big tree down on Varnum Ave.
At least one tree down in Shedd Park.
No power around 1 PMish in the Highlands.
LHS “catastrophe shelter” seems empty.