Getting around New England proved difficult as Sandy ripped through the region, grounding airlines, forcing evacuations and knocking out power to nearly a million people in Massachusetts and Connecticut alone.
10.30.2012 | SPRINGFIELD -- Peter Pan and Greyhound bus services will still shut down Tuesday, with service expected to resume at 6 a.m. Wednesday.
By CONOR BERRY and GEORGE GRAHAM
Republican Staff Writers
SPRINGFIELD — Anyone trying to navigate through much of Western Massachusetts Monday night into Tuesday morning likely reached their destinations without too much trouble.
The region's hill towns, though, took a bruising from Superstorm Sandy as it pummeled coastal sections of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. The storm, once a hurricane, technically weakened to a post-tropical cyclone when it made landfall near Atlantic City, N.J., around 8 p.m. Monday.
The storm caused widespread flooding, shut down major mass transit systems in parts of New York and the mid-Atlantic and battered the coasts of Cape Cod, Connecticut and Long Island, leaving thousands without power and damages possibly stretching into the billions.
In Western Massachusetts, the storm mainly took down tree limbs and power lines, leading to scattered outages and road closures in mostly rural sections of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties.
In Connecticut, Sandy flooded roads from Greenwich in the west to Groton in the east, toppling trees and power lines, killing two people, and leaving more than 630,000 utility customers in the dark. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this morning lifted Monday's travel ban on state highways as officials from the Nutmeg State attempted to assess the full extent of damage.
Flights at Connecticut's Bradley International Airport were expected to resume around noontime Tuesday, according to John Wallace, spokesman for the Windsor Locks airport serving the Hartford-Springfield metropolitan area.
"It's going to take a while to ramp things up," he told The Republican this morning. "Not all the crews and equipment are in place – not only here, but elsewhere in the Northeast."
Travelers should check with their airlines, not the airport, for flight and service information, Wallace said.
Logan International Airport reopened today, but officials at the Boston airport also are telling passengers to check with airlines about service interruptions and flight schedules (some flight information is available via MassPort here). Major airports in New York City and New Jersey remained closed early Tuesday, with some expected to open later today, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
All Massachusetts courthouses that closed at noon on Monday were expected to reopen by 12 p.m. today.
In Western Massachusetts, more than 22,000 customers were still without power at sunrise today. But it was the eastern part of the state that bore the brunt of the storm, including sections of the South Coast, South Shore, North Shore and Cape and islands. Statewide, more than 288,000 utility customers still had no electricity this morning, down from a storm-high of 380,000. It was not immediately clear if there were any storm-related deaths in Massachusetts, though Connecticut officials so far have attributed at least two fatalities to Sandy.
Springfield's Peter Pan Bus Lines was expected to resume normal service by 6 a.m. Wednesday. As of early Tuesday, all bus service – including runs to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut – was still canceled.
Normal operations were scheduled to resume this morning at the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority.
Both of Connecticut's casinos – Foxwoods in Mashantucket and Mohegan Sun in Uncasville – managed to stay open throughout Sandy despite a prior report saying they had closed. Some of their normal services and venues were either canceled or closed Monday, according to spokespeople for the casinos near Connecticut's hard-hit shoreline.
Mohegan spokesman Sean Flanagan said some confusion may have stemmed from the fact that the casino's tribal gaming offices were closed Monday while the hotel remained open. Mohegan's box office, country club and several casino shops and restaurants were closed Monday, and all bus service and poker tournaments were canceled.
Foxwoods spokeswoman Rebecca Carr said the casino offered "limited services" during the storm, but the hotel remained open. The "safety of our guests and team members" was the primary concern, she said.
Closer to home, the Berkshire County community of Washington took a thrashing as high winds toppled trees and knocked out power to the rural town bordering Hampshire County.
Things were looking grim and dim in Washington by late Tuesday morning, when 99 percent of the town's 328 WMECo customers were still without power. Sandy forced the cancellation of Monday's Town Meeting, which is likely to be rescheduled.
"Many, many roads are closed because of trees down on wires," David Fish, Washington's highway superintendent, said early Tuesday.
Fish said highway workers would begin surveying damage "right about when the sun rises." As of last night, though, it was far too dangerous for him and his crew to be outside. "Trees are down everywhere," he said.
Storm damage knocked out power to sections of East Street in Southampton, which was still closed to traffic this morning between Strong and Middle roads, according to Southampton police Chief David G. Silvernail. High winds ripped through the town late Monday afternoon, taking down multiple trees and power lines, he said. Silvernail praised Western Massachusetts Electric Co. crews for their speedy response. As of 10 a.m. today, power had yet to be restored to 51 of WMECo's 2,481 Southampton customers.
Trooper Geroge Beaupre, of the Russell barracks, said some of Russell's dirt roads were closed from the storm, as well as Route 23 in Blandford near the Russell line. Goss Hill road in Huntington, which runs along the eastern edge of the Chester Wildlife Management Area, also was closed due to storm damage, Beaupre said. It was not immediately clear when the roads would reopen.
"Some hill towns took a little bit of a beating," a trooper from the Northampton barracks said.
Blandford was among the communities hit hard by Sandy, which knocked out electricity to 629 of WMECo's 686 customers in the rural Hampden County town. Power had yet to be restored as of late Tuesday morning.
Public safety officials from the region's major cities, including Springfield, Chicopee and Westfield, reported no major road closures or significant weather-related events after the storm.
"Thankfully, it was pretty good to us," Westfield police Capt. Michael McCabe said.