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With shovels, plow trucks, and sometimes just a warm-mittened hand, New Bedford residents on Tuesday began the slow, laborious task of digging out from under the largest snowfall in the city’s recorded history.
Monday’s blizzard brought 37 inches of snow to New Bedford, beating out the record set during the Blizzard of ’78 by a whopping 11 inches. Main streets were largely clear by Tuesday morning, but the city’s side streets remain under a thick duvet of snow.
Heavy winds and gusts over 60 mph on Monday prevented the city from plowing more quickly, Mayor Jon Mitchell said in a news conference Tuesday, prompting some trucks to plow the same roadways “over three times.”
“We just got walloped,” Mitchell said.
Emergency vehicles remained busy throughout the storm. The city saw 64 ambulance responses on Monday — an almost typical volume, Mitchell said. There were no reported fatalities. Mitchell estimated that anywhere from 75 to 100 city vehicles got stuck in the snow Monday, although he said it was difficult to keep count. Emergency Medical Services Director Mike Thomas said the snow delayed response times, with some medical units needing to travel on foot to reach some residences.
“But we got there and we did transportations,” Thomas said.
The city issued 810 tickets and towed 252 cars after implementing a citywide parking ban Sunday afternoon. Officials said the ban would continue through Tuesday at least.
New Bedford Police Chief Jason Thody said parking ban compliance this time around was much better than during last month’s storm, when officers towed over 400 vehicles.
As of noon Tuesday, Eversource’s power outage tracker showed 3,374 customers without power in New Bedford, down from a little over 4,900 on Monday. The city fared much better than Cape Cod, where in some communities, over 90 percent of customers experienced outages.
In a news conference in Yarmouth Tuesday, Eversource’s president of electric operations, Doug Foley, said the utility company responded to 230 incidents, including fallen trees and downed power lines, and managed to restore 45,000 customers during the storm. The main restoration work could not begin until Tuesday after the blizzard had subsided.
South Coast Warming Centers
Please call to confirm opening hours as they may be subject to change.
New Bedford
PAACA Recovery Support Center — 360 Coggeshall St., 508-997-9051
Dartmouth
Dartmouth Council on Aging — 628 Dartmouth St., call 508-999-4717 for pickup
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24
Fairhaven
Hastings Middle School — 30 School St., 508-994-1428 x 7201
Hours: Open as of 10 a.m. Tuesday
Wareham
Multi-Service Center — 48 Marion Road, 774-766-9819
“Our ability to get out in blizzard-like conditions and do our job was nearly impossible,” Foley said.
Mitchell noted that the city experienced fewer downed trees than expected, although he did not have an exact number. With fewer than 10 percent of customers impacted by power outages, the city decided not to open an emergency shelter as it had done in past extreme weather events. The warming center at the PAACA Recovery Support Center on Coggeshall Street received 17 visitors Monday night.
City offices, schools, and libraries will remain closed Wednesday, and trash pickup will be delayed one more day. City Council will not meet this Thursday, either.
Gov. Maura Healey issued a travel ban in Bristol County Monday afternoon, which she lifted Tuesday at noon.
As he has done throughout the week, Mitchell urged residents to stay off the roads and be patient while 70 city-operated plow trucks make their way through the city. They’ll be joined later by reinforcements from the Massachusetts Army National Guard. Mitchell asked the Guard on Monday to provide extra plows, trucks, and staff, and they were en route Tuesday afternoon, according to the city.
No downtown businesses had dared to open on Tuesday amid the treacherous streets and 5-foot snow drifts — not even the Dunkin’ on Union Street.
“New Bedford has about 300 miles of roadway, and there’s a lot of it that still needs to be plowed,” Mitchell said.
Anastasia Lennon contributed reporting.
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
More stories by Brooke Kushwaha
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