Belmont Police: Blizzard Walkers, Watch Out for Plows

Just because there are no private vehicles on Belmont streets due to the blizzard coming through town yesterday and town, it doesn't mean residents should think they own the roads, said Belmont Police Lt. Richard Santangelo. 

"We have reports of a lot of people walking round along the roads. What they don't understand is that the town plows are traveling fairly fast on the streets and they aren't expecting pedestrians," said Santangelo, updating what has been a busy night for Belmont Police.

In fact, "since nothing is opening today, residents should stay indoors," said Santangleo. 

Over at the Belmont Municipal Light Department, it's been fairly quiet, according to spokesperson Jennifer Santoro.

As of 4 a.m., (Saturday Feb. 9), Belmont Light has still not experienced any major events including outages in the (town)," Santoro said.

Belmont's electric utility is the exception around the state as more than 600,000 households are without power in New England due to the storm.

"We have received calls regarding minor items that do not have to be addressed at this time and can wait until after the storm is over," she added.

Belmont police officers have been towing cars that were parked on the street violating the Snow Emergency parking ban and helping people who have been stranded by the weather.

"We had one person visit a friend at McLean but because the MBTA bus line had stopped in the afternoon, he was wandering around lost so we picked him up and drove him to the hotel in Fresh Pond," said Santangelo.

According to Santangelo, most main streets in town – Trapelo Road, Common Street, Concord Avenue, Pleasant Street – are passable (although only vehicles with 4-wheel drive should attempt climbing Prospect Street from Belmont Center to Belmont Hill) for those essential workers, medical workers, for example, who are required to be at work.

"But I would advise those people if it usually takes an hour to dig yourself out, I would say today digging out will take two hours," said Santangelo.