South Shore braces for strong winds, power outages from nor'easter
MARSHFIELD - The South Shore is expected to experience heavy winds during the nor'easter Tuesday. On Monday, waves in Marshfield were already reaching three feet, washing debris onto roadways.
"At the Cape we're predicting 70 mph winds. So, less snow, but very high winds for a significant amount of time," said Craig Hallstrom, Regional President of Electric Operations for Eversource.
Residents from nearby towns were out embracing the Atlantic's signs that a storm is on the way.
"They are so intense they're coming up right over the wall here, it's spectacular. Really scary but beautiful," said Gillian Desmarais describing the waves.
Desmarais is home visiting family. The nor'easter forced her to change her travel plans.
"I called Delta and I said 'Please, is it possible to switch my flight right before it comes in,' thankfully they said absolutely!" Desmarais said.
Eversource has been prepositioning crews and equipment to prepare for the storm since Friday.
"We have resources in Western Mass, MetroWest, South Shore and the Cape," said Hallstrom. "On the Cape it looks like a wind event. MetroWest is looking like sticky snow, like Gorilla Glue snow. That's probably the thing that has me most concerned."
Hallstrom said Eversource believes downed trees will cause the most power outages. "We expect a lot of tree damage so we've hired about 500 tree crews," he said.
They also flew in an additional 800 crews from states including Florida, Michigan and Texas.
Hallstrom added, "When you have storms like this, resources become difficult to get."
The wind could also hinder their response teams from restoring power quickly. That's one reason this Duxbury resident told WBZ she's planning ahead. "It's definitely getting supplies, making sure you have a source of heat somewhere," she said.
Supplies like batteries, and gas cans. Alex Boris, a sales associate at Aubuchon Hardware, said those were just some of the items flying off shelves at their Kingston store Monday.
"Sump pumps and generators, people usually buy in desperation, so a lot of times after the fact we
get a run on those items," said Boris.
His advice to South Shore residents is to check their cabinets and make sure they're prepared to lose power.
"I think the best thing to do would be to stock up on batteries, lanterns and flashlights," Boris said.
Eversource customers can report a power outage online, by phone, or through their app.
