Updated, Dec. 19
Fierce wind and heavy rains from a storm blowing through the Vineyard on Monday brought ferry cancellations, scattered power outages, some flooding, and road closures.
Steamship Authority ferries were mostly canceled throughout the day, on both the Vineyard and Nantucket routes.
Eversource started reporting power outages on the Island shortly before 10 am. Almost 60 customers were without power near School Street in Oak Bluffs as of 10:40 am. About 40 were without power in Tisbury at about noon. There were a handful of outages in Edgartown, Chilmark, West Tisbury, and Aquinnah. Across the state, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reported that nearly 300,000 customers were impacted.
There were also a few road closures on the Island, as the result of downed trees or flooding. Atlantic Avenue in Edgartown was closed because of flooding; a tree knocked down wires on Spring Street in Vineyard Haven, and a section of the road was also closed. Edgartown Police reported that a tree fell on an electric box on Pocha Road on Chappaquiddick, partially blocking the street. Some vehicles were stuck on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven.
Tisbury Fire Chief Greg Leland said that several trees did come down in Tisbury, leading to service interruptions. But overall, Chief Leland said, it wasn’t the worst storm that has hit the Island.
Oak Bluffs Fire Chief Nelson Wirtz said that there were rolling outages in town, but noted that Eversource had responded very quickly to restore power. “The Eversource regional supervisor for Barnstable and Dukes counties does a fantastic job making sure crews get out here,” Wirtz said. “It’s a huge benefit to us.” He noted that Eversource had set up staging crews over the weekend.
Wirtz said that low-lying areas, especially near Oak Bluffs Harbor and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, were experiencing localized flooding. He urged drivers to stay clear of flooding on roadways.
The Oak Bluffs chief also stated that due to the storm, some staff were stuck off-Island, or stuck on-Island for the time being, with some staff having stayed on-Island overnight. Wirtz says that his department was nonetheless fully staffed and functional. “They’re well-rested and chipper,” said Wirtz.
Wirtz added that all emergency managers on-Island were in communication, in case the storm ended up being more severe.
The National Weather Service reported the highest wind gust recorded on the Island was 59 miles per hour at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport, at 9:48 am.
The service also reported that West Tisbury received about an inch of rain overnight, the highest total on the Island.
Meantime, Eversource prepared for the outages. In a statement issued Sunday, they announced they were bringing out-of-state crews to help in Massachusetts, as well as additional line and tree crews to the Vineyard.
The Eversource president of regional electric operations, Craig Hallstrom, said because of the heavy rain forecast, flooding was a concern.
“The ground is already highly saturated from recent rainfall, and tree branches weakened, so the heavy rain and strong winds in the forecast have even greater potential to bring down trees and limbs onto electric lines and equipment causing outages,” Hallstrom said Sunday. “With elevated flooding concerns, we are working today to prepare our underground system for possible issues, and we have extra crews and equipment staged around the state so they’re ready to restore power as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
Eversource also reminded customers to stay clear of any downed wires and to report them immediately to 9-1-1. Outages can be reported online or by calling 800-592-2000.
Daniel Greenman contributed to this report.
I wonder if the Islander would have made these trips?
I bet it could!
Definitely!!
Easy claim. no way to find out.
I wonder if 1930’s technology is the way to go?
I have been on trips on the Islander when the Islander should not have been on the trip.
The Islander has no bow, just two sterns.
When the the SSA was done with the Islander nobody wanted it.
Things are not as good as they use to be, they are better.
The Islander had a lower center of gravity. It rode the waves better because of that. The reason nobody wanted it was because it was an old boat with a thinning hull and old mechanics.
What is the reason that there was never another boat like the Islander built?
Should the next SSA boat be the very same design but with up dated systems?
There are plenty of boats of those engines in service. Thinning hull plates, and frames, are not unusual, the Coast Guard calls for doubler plates, and frames, in boats as little as ten years old.
“The Islander had a lower center of gravity”, than which current SSA vessels? Lower than the freight boats?
If you look at pictures of electric ferries
almost all of them are low profile. The weight of
the batteries that are installed below decks
and pretty evenly distributed makes for
a stable ride.
I am so glad you finally used an accurate wind reading at the airport and not relied on inaccurate home based wind reporting devices. Finally !
When was the anemometer at the airport last calibrated?
The airport is seven miles from the ferry route.
Wind differences can easily be ten miles per hour per mile.
The wind readings that count are readings on the boasts, ports, Coast Guard Stations and Buoys.
boats
Why is the water this high?
The water was never this high when the island was great.
Is something we did or is it just God’s will?
The Steamship Authorities response for all of the folks cancelled on yesterday is atrocious. No communication throughout the day yeaterday as to boat cancellation probabilities. Cancellations inside of 60 minutes left no time for advanced planning by the customers. Phones not being answered all day and today, NO extra trips being run to bring home everyone who has been put in standby over in Woods Hole. You wouldn’t even know that boats were cancelled yesterday by looking at the level of activity here today. Business as usual.
I know this will sound nitpicky, but for the next storm of the century, can you send some photographers a little further than just outside the front door? We’ve all seen 5 Corners flooded, do we really need half a dozen pictures of it every time it rains?
I agree– I went from OB to EDG on beach road that day.
At the end of the seawall, there were significant
numbers of medium sized rocks and a lot of sand on the
road. There was about a 3 inch “waterfall” crossing
the road and going into Farm Pond. A much more
photographic scene.
But, since we have already had 4 or 5 “storms
of the century” this century,we don’t need to worry about
any more for at least 100 years.
We need to be constantly reminded of what we have done to ourselves.
Keep the water levels up, burn more hydrocarbons.
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