Hurricane Sandy edition

Not much to report thus far today (Monday, October 29, 2012). The rain has fallen as a heavy mist/light rain since last evening. The wind which was a steady breeze yesterday and this morning is now a constant low growl outside the window. Almost all schools were cancelled today. The courthouse and the registry of deeds closed at noon and the MBTA, including commuter rail, shut down completely at 2 pm. Lowell City Hall will close at 3 pm and a shelter has opened at the Senior Center on Broadway.

It was a year ago tonight that last year’s Halloween snowstorm struck, knocking down countless trees and depriving many of electricity for multiple days. Last year at this time, most of the trees still had their leaves and they held so much heavy, wet snow that limbs cracked and fell on power lines and other things (like the rear window of my car). This year, the leaves seemed to have turned and fallen earlier so between that and the lack of snow, I hope the downed limbs are much less frequent.

While you still have power, please comment on this post to document what you’re seeing, hearing and experiencing during this storm.

12 Responses to Hurricane Sandy edition

  1. N Pitkin says:

    It’s windy – we’re watching the trees bend in the gusts. Lots of leaves blowing around. I took the bird feeder in, but I think the cardinals and sparrows remember that there was food in this yard – I feel bad that I took it in and they are looking for it. Still have power, obviously at 3:15 PM.

  2. N Pitkin says:

    It’s windy – we’re watching the trees bend in the gusts. Lots of leaves blowing around. I took the bird feeder in, but I think the cardinals and sparrows remember that there was food in this yard – I feel bad that I took it in and they are looking for it. Still have power , obviously, at 3:15 PM. My wireless is still working.

  3. Marie says:

    Fortunately, our family crew got the porch and surrounding area secured during the weekend. Plant pots, pumpkins out of the way as not to become missles. Lots of tree work this summer… just one tree mid-backyard is iffy. Our neighbors also did lots of tree work! So many leaves down as you said so the branches are wavy and bending like sticks. The gusts during the last hour have been very strong… the power has blipped off and on 7-8 times but the connection must jump to the next line. Must be computers at work. But I must admit that “speeding train sounds” of the wind unnerves me. I’ll be glad when things settle down.

  4. Joan H says:

    Earlier today I would have thought this thing might not be so bad. Changed my mind about 2 hours ago.. We now have piece of aluminum faschia off and half a neighbor’s tree down on the the street. . We still have power ( fingers crossed) My scanner is going crazy. The police and fire just cannot keep up. Andover Street has 3 poles in a row ready to go , so I think they are closing off the street. There ‘s something wrong on Mariposa. , Pine and Westford, wires down.

  5. PaulM says:

    Hanging on with power in the South Common Historic District. We had three full outages during the afternoon, each lasting less than five minutes. Kudos to the energy kings for keeping us lit up. Heavy wind since noontime. We have one medium sized limb down in the back yard. This seems like a lot of atmospheric energy for being on the storm system’s outer edges in New England. The tallest trees in the back woodlot are tossing and bending steadily. Let’s hope the wind doesn’t get too much stronger.

  6. Bob Forrant says:

    Still lights on over here on Christian Hill – but the wind sure was howling a couple of hours ago. Power went off for about 45 seconds around 12:30 – I yelled some bad words and it came back on just like that! My son in Providence reports the Rhode Island coast line is being rearranged. He has friends who live down there whose yards are washing away! The wind-lashed rain keeps falling – no cellar water – so, so far so good. I also cooked about seven dishes yesterday just in case so am pigging out.

  7. Donna says:

    I’m Marie Sweeney’s cousin out in NW Washinton State
    Watching CNN and reading Maries Blog but no more blogging after 2:15 or so power out I guess. Wishing you all no harm .

  8. David M says:

    The Lowell Police Academy has been closed for two days. Why not have the recruits report as scheduled and have them ride in a police cruiser with other officers to get some OJT. I’m sure the police offices could use the help on a day like today.

  9. PaulM says:

    Two big tree limbs down in the back yard. They didn’t crush anything on the way down, amazingly. Not much damage on the South Common, a few medium-sized branches broke off one of the old maples near the tennis and basketball courts. I’ve seen a lot worse on the Common after storms. The Halloween snowstorm last year was a killer for the pine trees—big green boughs were on the ground everywhere.

  10. Dean says:

    Is this the new reality. Climate change. We need a national public forum to really talk about climate change. Press will not talk about . Thus the talk must come the bottom up.

  11. DickH says:

    Sorry to be absent for the past 36 hours, but our power went out at 330pm on Monday when a large tree dragged down the wires on Westford Street near Tyler Park. The power was restored last night (Tuesday) at about 530 so it was out for 26 hours. My new generator got a good break-in. Now I just have to motivate the electrician to get here and install the proper by-pass panel so I don’t have to have extension cords running throughout the house. With the exception of a few medium sized branches, the Highlands doesn’t look like it was hit too hard, certainly nothing like last October’s storm. Still, according to the NStar outage map, the Tyler Park wire-down deprived 1400 households of electricity; perhaps that’s why it was fixed (relatively) quickly.

  12. Marie says:

    Power went out at 5:15pm on Monday – restored this morning Wednesday the 31st at 6am… happy it wasn’t cold but frustrating to be powerless.