Al Croteau's weekend ski trip with his son and family in New Hampshire was interrupted on Friday, Feb. 26, as a neighbor called with the unhappy news that two 50 foot tall pine trees had fallen on his home at 196 Shawsheen Road.
Croteau wasn't the only Andover resident who would spend the weekend cutting tree limbs. The month of March certainly came in like a lion, packing a one-two punch of pounding rain and gusting winds that felled trees, flooded basements, blew storm windows off buildings and caused power outages across town. Heavy rain and hurricane-like velocity winds Feb. 25 caused Sanborn, South and Bancroft Elementary schools to lose power, leading Superintendent Claudia Bach to cancel school on Friday, Feb. 26. Roads throughout town were closed, as town and utility company employees worked to clear downed trees and power lines through the weekend.
Luckily, the Croteau home sustained only external damage and no one was home when the trees fell. Al Croteau, along with his brother, son, and several friends with heavy-duty chainsaws, spent Sunday clearing tree limbs and readying the house for a new utility meter and wires, which had all come down with the pine trees.
"It turned what could have been a very bad experience into a good experience. They were there when I needed help. Bingo, they showed up," said Croteau of his friends, family and neighborhood. "It's nice to have people like that. The neighbors have been extremely accommodating, inviting me over for dinner, making sure I'm OK. Everybody just pulled together to help out."
Such neighborliness was needed, as National Grid reported that 6,000 Andover customers were without power on Friday, Feb. 26. The majority of homes were restored over the weekend with the last Andover customer's power restored overnight Monday, March 1.
Town forestry crews were called in "the wee hours" of Friday morning, said Joe Piantedosi, plant and facilities department director. Town crews worked in tandem with National Grid contractors, sawing felled trees and clearing roads as utility crews reattached fallen wires.
"Our priority is to keep the roads open, to the best of our ability," said Tree Warden Randy Pickersgill. "Until National Grid and their contractors remove a tree from off a (live) wire, we can't clean them up. Our guys aren't trained to be working around high-voltage wires."
High Plain, Blood and Sunset Rock roads were closed for portions of Friday. An 80 foot pine tree and fallen wires had to be cleared from the corner of Osgood and Bellevue Roads, said Piantedosi.
With cleanup scheduled through Saturday, March 6, Piantedosi has projected $5,900 in employee overtime costs as a result of the storms.
Highway Superintendent Chris Cronin said final clean-up will come with street-sweepers later in the spring.
"It was a challenging event, but nowhere near one of our worst storms," he said. "We were very fortunate. It gives us all something to talk about, but it wasn't earth-shattering."
The senior center, Town Offices and the Town House closed Friday, Feb. 26, after losing power. Senior center staff stayed in case the facility needed to open as an emergency shelter, said Kathy Urquhart, director of elder services, but the need never arose.
The police chief, consulting with the town manager, makes the call whether to open an emergency shelter in cases of weather disasters, said Police Lt. Commander James Hashem. This storm did not warrant opening a shelter, he said, and residents without heat or power mostly stayed with friends, relatives or in hotels.
The water treatment plant operated by generator power on Friday until electricity was restored that evening. Water quality was never effected, said Piantedosi. A number of smaller "wet wells," which can go for several hours without power, were serviced with truck-mounted generators that traveled around town on Friday, he said.
Backup generators powered emergency lighting, computer servers, refrigerators and other essentials at Town Offices and school buildings, said Piantedosi. Sanborn Elementary School was the last town building to have full power restored, at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The Shawsheen River Watershed Association has been keeping an eye on river levels, which swelled over the weekend. A Shawsheen River gauge near Balmoral Street showed peak levels at midnight on Thursday, Feb. 25 and then again at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27.
Amy Guay, who owns the Shawsheen Luncheonette with her husband, Bryan, said the cafe was "crazy busy" Friday, Saturday and Sunday as residents without power came in for hot food and coffee.
"A lot of people wanted comfort food, like pancakes. We sold out of macaroni and cheese on Friday, and soup and fish chowder," said Guay. "People were talking about trees down, and they had to go around the universe (to get here, because of closed roads). At one point, I had to take the phone off the hook, because I couldn't work while answering calls asking if we were open or not."
In 21 years, the Guays have closed the Shawsheen Square diner just once, because a state of emergency was declared.
"We're a local hangout, and no matter how much snow we get, my husband and I always open up. They know we're here," said Guay.
school cancellation comes too late for some
It was close to 7 a.m. when Superintendent Claudia Bach announced her decision to cancel school on Friday, Feb. 26, after some school staff had already come into work. She apologized for the late notice in an e-mail that read:
Dear staff and parents,
I apologize for the late notification today regarding the school cancellation. The word that four of our schools were without power came to me relatively late, and then later still was word that many of the roads were not passable due to fallen branches. I know that many of you were already on your way to work or waiting for the bus. I also know that many of you couldn't get the call at all because you were without power. I had thought we had made it through the week without a cancellation, but Mother Nature has her way of throwing us a curve now and then. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this late notice may have caused you. Have a good weekend.
Sincerely,
Claudia Bach
