NAHANT — Power was restored to residents in the Little Nahant neighborhood shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday after a dump truck crash left more than 1,000 people without electricity for about five hours on one of the coldest days of the year.
Residents were concerned about their elderly neighbors after the dump truck struck a utility pole and knocked out the power and phone lines. It was estimated that it would take about eight hours to restore electricity to hundreds of homes.
“We’re looking at an eight hour timeline, which is a concern to me,” said Dennis Ball, the Department of Public Works director, Thursday morning. “People with gas have heat, but it won’t circulate. We’re looking at 1,500 to 1,800 people without electricity and heat. That’s a densely populated neighborhood.”
The biggest concern was with seniors, he said.
Linda Peterson, executive director of the Council on Aging, said she has a list of seniors who live in Little Nahant and began making calls right away. She reached about half her list before phone lines were cut.
“Now I can’t reach them,” she said. “There’s one woman we’re really concerned about who is in her 90s. We’ve called her caseworker at Greater Lynn Senior Services to check on her. I was going to call a couple more people, but the lines are down now.”
When she initially made the calls, she was told the power would be out for about three hours and everyone said they would prefer to stay home. When the repair timeline was extended to eight hours, she voiced concern. If power wasn’t restored before it got dark, someone planned to visit each of their homes, she said.
“They didn’t want to leave at that point but now we’re going to get into the night time and it’s going to be cold,” said Peterson. “It’s dangerous.”
A shelter was established at the Johnson Elementary School and an emergency management trailer was in the parking lot with 80 cots and first aid supplies ready to be used, said Michael Halley, assistant emergency management director. The library also welcomed patrons a place to warm up or charge their phones.
“The last time we used a shelter was in ’91 during the Perfect Storm,” he said. “I’ve always said, when we have a major disaster over here, not if, because it’s going to happen, it won’t be the Nahant Police or Nahant Fire Department that saves everyone. It will be people helping people. And we need to be ready for that.”
He said while Nahant is prepared for the power outage, the town is working to establish a community emergency response team for such situations.
National Grid, Verizon, and the police and the fire departments responded to the accident.
An MBTA bus was parked outside Dunkin’ Donuts until noon, offering to take in residents who were trying to get warm and offer them a ride to the school. Not many were taking advantage of the bus, so it was swapped for a Council on Aging bus, said Ball.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte
