Community Corner
October Storm Gone But Left 2,500 Without Lights
Nearly one in five Belmont Municipal Light Department customers suffered an outage.
By Sunday, the most pressing problem stemming from thewere the numerous walkers and joggers trying not to be getting their shoes wet from all the puddles created by the rapidly melting snow.
The bright sunlight, breezy conditions and "balmy" temperatures that hit the high 40s sent teenagers out in short sleeves and runners in shorts as many residents took time to hit the stores and eateries, belying the disruption the storm had on Belmont's electrical grid just half-a-day earlier.
At 11 p.m. on Saturday, nearly one in five homes and businesses lost their electricity as three main feeder lines supplying the town went down, according to Ed Crisafi, operations manager of the
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"We'll know for sure what the total was on Monday but I would estimate a total of 2,500 customers lost their power," Crisafi said, adding that the figures compares to the number of homes effected by in late August.
Crisafi said two of the feeder lines went down at 9 p.m. and a third a little more than two hours later by falling branches and trees. He said this was expected as a heavy snow and wind combined with the abundance of trees in town – the Shady Tree Committee last year estimated there are as many trees as people, about 25,000, in Belmont – will lead to outages.
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Crisafi said on average, it took crews about two hours to bring electrical service back to the bulk of homes. He said only a handful of homes were still without electricity by 1 p.m. but all customers will likely have power by the late afternoon, just in time to see that New England Patriots play the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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