Greater Lynn escapes worst of storm

LYNN – More than two feet of snow in parts of Western Massachusetts and widespread power outages prompted a State of Emergency declaration, but the Lynn area emerged comparatively unscathed by an early winter snowstorm Saturday night into Sunday morning.”We were lucky, actually, for a change,” said Gino Cresta, Swampscott Department of Public Works director. “I’d say we dodged a bullet n we’ve been getting the brunt of things for the last month so it’s about time.”The National Weather Service registered 1 inch of snow at Logan Airport, but Plainfield, in Hampshire County, received 30.8 inches, according to the weather service.Nevertheless, local public works departments were prepared – even though Cresta said that he had never had to send out sanders and plow this early in the season.Swampscott sent four sander trucks out at 10 p.m. Saturday and then followed it up at 4 a.m. Sunday with two plows on the major roads, Cresta said. Meanwhile, crews responded to reports of downed limbs throughout town, the major damage from the storm, Cresta said.Saugus began sanding the roads at 11 p.m. Saturday and didn’t stop until late Sunday morning, Public Works Director Joseph Attubato said. But he echoed Cresta’s comments.”It wasn’t as bad as I thought,” he said. I thought we were going to get at least 6 inches? We dodged a bullet.”Customers at Lynn’s Family Corner Grocery were prepared, although the store wasn’t, having not yet ordered this year’s winter supplies.”Salt, stuff to clean the streets, shovels, we don’t have any left,” said grocer Juliano Ventura, explaining, “It was pretty early, nobody was expecting the snow coming, so it was a surprise.”But while snow shovels may not have been needed, candles were a necessity for many residents in Essex County. Swampscott reported scattered power outages – all downed wires led to individual homes rather than to transmission lines impacting neighborhoods, Cresta said.The areas by Lynn Fells and Atlantic Avenue were without power Sunday afternoon, Attubato said.National Grid spokesperson David Graves said that 57,000 customers in Essex County were without power at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, including 12,000 residents of Andover.”We still have about 420,000 customers out in Massachusetts and we have hundreds of crews out there and more coming in,” Graves said Sunday. “We will have workers out through the night restoring services? It was a devastating storm.”Graves said that the wet snow on trees that have not yet dropped their leaves contributed to the damage, as the leaves became coated and added stress to limbs that were already whipping around in high winds.But those winds had some benefits.Marblehead resident Don DeSander joined seven other surfers off Kings Beach Sunday afternoon for a rare opportunity to catch some waves in New England.”We only get waves from hurricanes that come up the Atlantic coast, but we’re shielded by Cape Cod,” DeSander said. Furthermore, the offshore wind kept the wave face up and allowing it to “curl” rather than crash immediately, he said. It was only the third trip into the waves that he had made this season – “It was better than Irene, worse than Katia,” he described. And it was still early in the season, DeSander said. The water wasn’t cold enough to use his winter wetsuit but his biggest discomfort was due to windburn.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].