Community Corner

All Roads Open, Power Still Out in Westwood

Trees have been addressed in town and NSTAR continues to address.

While Hurricane Irene on Sunday, prompting the town's Department of Public Works to close various roads, all streets were reopened as of 7 a.m. Monday.

"We were able, with the and NSTAR, to at least get the trees out of the wires and off the streets," said Vicki Quiram, Director of the Westwood DPW, which spent all night Sunday into the early morning hours on Monday clearing roads and addressing trees that were blocking the public way.

"Everything that's left to be done with NSTAR is really not related to tree work," Quiram added. "It's related to electrical work."

Westwood residents reported to Westwood Patch on Monday that they were still without power, spanning from various parts of town, including Oak Street, Mill Street, Edgewood Road, Chase Estates, Pond Street and High Rock Lane, among other neighborhoods.

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

Power was restored, however, to Beechnut Road, Oriole Road, Sunrise Road, Robin Road and Linden Street, according to resident Lisa B. Walker. Two traffic lights on Washington Street that went out on Sunday were also restored to normal as of noontime Monday.

NSTAR was not able to divulge exactly how many customers were without power on Monday, though some 200,000 state-wide were reportedly dealing with outages.

"NSTAR workers are working tirelessly to restore power to customers after the damage caused by Irene," Mike Durand, a spokesperson for NSTAR, said in a media announcement on Monday. "Crews will continue working around the clock until customers are restored."

Because of the extent of the damage, Durand said, it could be several days before power is back on. Those who still wish to report a power outage can do so by calling 1-800-592-2000.

Despite the inconviences and number of calls made to the Westwood Police & Fire Departments for various storm-related issues (about 115 on Sunday alone), Public Safety officials said that while the day was a busy one, things went fairly smoothly.

"We had started with extra personnel," said Westwood Deputy Fire Chief Mike Reardon, who added that while it was a busy day, nothing catastrophic took place in town. "There was enough warning that I think people heeded the warnings."

Added Westwood Police Detective Paul Toland, "There were certainly inconveniences, a number of issues relative to road closures and power outages, but thankfully there was no incident that rose to the level of life-threatening injuries, and for that we are grateful."

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


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