Cleanup enters day 3 as many still without power on South Shore

PLYMPTON, Mass. — Not all towns on the South Shore were making progress with power restoration. Plympton officials told us they were close to 100% without power on day three of no power.

Fire Chief Stephen Silva said, at first, they could not get any estimate on a timeline. But after making some noise, the chief said the resources started rolling in.

“The linemen, the people out there doing the job - fantastic. They get it. There is disconnect in the upper echelon of Eversource. An absolute disconnect,” Chief Silva said.

Eversource is the power provider in Plympton. No power also meant no way to pump well-water unless you had a generator. A doggy daycare business was filling buckets of water at the firehouse. Paul Cerone is one of the owners.

>>>RELATED: Power outages remain, more rain in forecast after nor’easter

“People are without water, without power, can’t use the basic necessities,” Cerone said.

More crews seemed to show up by Friday afternoon. In a written statement Eversource told us:

“Plympton was among the hardest-hit communities in a storm that caused significant, widespread destruction to Massachusetts, including more than 250 blocked roads, more than 300 broken utility poles and more than 80 miles of downed electric lines. Our massive restoration effort has thousands of workers, with some from as far away as Canada and Florida, working tirelessly to clear and repair damage to restore power to our remaining 98,000 customers who lost power during the destructive nor’easter. We know how frustrating it is for our customers to be without power, and we’re coordinating closely with all of our communities – including Plympton where we have provided dedicated resources – as we work to meet estimated town-by-town restoration timelines and substantially complete restoration for all customers by Saturday at 6 p.m.”

>>>MORE: Cleanup continues across South Shore & Cape following fall nor’easter

The town said there were definitely more Eversource crews in town by mid-day Friday.

“We understand that patience is a virtue, but communication is key. And that is the breakdown,” Chief Silva said.

Utility crews in Duxbury are working hard around the clock to get lights back on ahead of another storm that’ll hit overnight Friday. Residents who have been in the dark since Tuesday are concerned.

“Yeah, I see a lot of crews out, so I’m hopefully optimistic,” said Vance Loiselle of Duxbury.

He was also hoping Eversource’s estimate to get power back on by 6 p.m. Friday was on target. That was at 7:30 p.m.

The race to restore on Cape and South Shore as another storm approaches

“I think they’re saying Friday tonight, at 6 p.m. tonight. So, we’re a little overdue,” Loiselle said.

Eversource CEO, Joe Nolan, said he understands the frustration but adds they’ve made significant progress.

“Yesterday, we had over 270,000 customers out when I met with you. I am pleased to report today were under 80,000. We were able to knock it down significantly,” Nolan said.

He also said this is one of the worst storms he’s seen in years.

“The damage is severe. I really have not witnessed this severe damage for at least 5-to-7 years,” Nolan said.

One hard-hit area on the Cape was Sandwich. Nearly 50% of the town remained in the dark until late Friday.

“Then late this afternoon we saw about 50 trucks roll in. So we’re hoping we’re going to start seeing the new ones get moved this afternoon,” said David Sampson, who is a Sandwich selectman.

Back in Duxbury, people wait patiently and are very understanding.

“I think they’ve done a great job. This storm had 100 mile an hour winds, there’s trees down everywhere. They can only do so much,” Loiselle said.

Eversource hopes to reduce the number of customers without power to 50,000 by midnight Friday. And National Grid expects the majority of their customers to be back online by Saturday morning.

WATCH THE FORECAST | DOWNLOAD THE APPS

School closings | Download our free apps | Forecast

Follow our Boston 25 Meteorologists on Twitter for updates:

Kevin Lemanowicz | Shiri Spear | Jason Brewer | Vicki Graf

Stay Informed:

Utilize MEMA’s real-time power outage viewer to stay informed about current power outages in your community and region, and across the state, including information from utility companies about restoration times.

Utilize MEMA’s live weather radar and forecasting tools.

MassDOT | MBTA | Logan Airport | Amtrak

Online Resources:

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency - on Facebook and Twitter

Mass211

Federal Emergency Management Agency

National Weather Service/Boston

National Weather Service/Albany, NY

©2021 Cox Media Group