Irene showed up on Saturday night in a fury of wind and sideways rain, but caused no serious problems for me. When she left on Sunday, however, she was a bit angrier – high winds and soft soils made for an eventful day here in Byram and across most of the rest of the state, with trees down and power out all over the region.
While I lost power only briefly, my phone and internet access has been spotty at best, and I have a 110-foot oak tree leaning precariously over the back of my home (knock wood, it hasn’t fallen yet!). My internet & phone service comes and goes (mostly goes) during the course of the day. Right now, 10:30 AM Tuesday, is the first connectivity I have had since Monday evening, and only the third time I’ve had access since Sunday night. I have been told by the phone company that I will not have reliable phone service until power is fully restored in the area – probably sometime Thursday by their best guess.
Currently, almost 10,000 homes and businesses (and phone company switches) in the Sparta/Andover/Newton area are without power, including the local Wi-Fi hotspots I would normally be able to utilize. Fortunately, I have not lost electricity like so many of my friends and neighbors. For that I am most thankful.
Despite the best efforts of local DPW crews, many roads remain impassable throughout the area today as well – a simple 7 mile drive from my house to the Byram Municipal Building last night became a nearly 20 mile trek through the countryside as detours have detours due to fallen trees, downed wires and high water
I hope all of you and your families survived the storm and are safe and dry (or at least drying out).