Exactly four weeks after the last big storm that brought a foot and a half of snow to the Tri-Town, the Northeast has again gotten hammered, this time by a Blizzard on February 22 that tops the famous Blizzard of 1978 in many areas.
Though in the lead-up to the storm, much of the focus was on the Jersey Shore, New York and Long Island, the South Coast and Rhode Island took the brunt of it. Records have been smashed, with the National Weather Service reporting a blanket over the Tri-Town of over 31 inches. In Providence, the record for snowfall was originally held by 1978 at 28.6 inches, with this week’s storm coming in at over 3 feet, between 36 and 37 inches.
Tree limbs succumbing to the weight of snow caused many prolonged power outages. Eversource sent notices to customers saying, if they lost power, “restoration could take 3-5 days.” Following the storm, Eversource reported around 18% of customers in Eastern Massachusetts had experienced outages, or around 250,000 homes. Nearly all of Marion experienced outages, with 3,111 households affected. Mattapoisett and Rochester fared slightly better, with 1,164 household outages in Mattapoisett and 1,446 in Rochester.
Marion Village was without power, along with homes to the East around Point Road and Delano Road while power along Converse Road was maintained. In Mattapoisett, power in the center had been restored, while work on Ned’s Point Road continued with most of that section still without power at press time. Rochester was sporadic, but most homes in the center of town remained without power through Tuesday. Many businesses remained closed through the early part of the week.
Though Tri-Town school and Old Rochester Regional had Winter Break last week, schools remained closed through Wednesday.
As of writing, there was one confirmed death from the storm, a 21-year-old student at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey confirmed the travel ban across the South Coast would remain in effect until road conditions were improved.
By Sam Bishop