Bitter snow and wind shuts down Tri-Town

This winter’s biggest snowstorm yet has covered Mattapoisett, Marion and Rochester with over a foot of snow, halted travel and caused power outages.

Governor Maura Healey issued a travel ban across several South Coast areas Monday afternoon, including Plymouth county. With hazardous road conditions and large amounts of snow to be cleared, only essential travel — for public safety, healthcare, snow removal or essential service purposes — is currently allowed. 

The ban will be lifted when the state highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver determines conditions are safe.

Mattapoisett Fire Chief Andrew Murray echoed the importance of staying off the roads, and said it is one of the most important ways to stay safe during the storm. He also said it is important to stay away from any downed power lines and ensure outdoor vents are cleared to avoid carbon dioxide building up inside homes.

“Double check all your alarms,” he said. “This is a common time for carbon dioxide incidents and even fires.”

Many of the calls Murray said the department has been responding to throughout the day have been for downed trees, phone poles and power lines, as well as cars stuck on the road and flooded basements.

He said there have been several calls from drivers who got stuck in the snow and needed to be shoveled out or towed off the road. 

“It's definitely an unnecessary challenge for our workers and emergency responders to have to work around them,” Murray said.

While the roads in Mattapoisett are largely unplowed, Rochester Fire Chief Scott Weigel said many of the town’s roads are passable. 

“The Highway Department is doing a great job at this time getting the roads open,” Weigel said.

He said many of the calls the fire department received Monday were for downed wires.

According to Eversource’s outage map, about 40% of Rochester customers were without power as of Monday evening. About a quarter of Mattapoisett customers had no power at that time, as well as over half of Marion customers.

Meg Albert was one of those Marion residents without power. 

While her house is well stocked with food, candles and flashlights, she lost power around 6:30 a.m. and spent the day in a frigid house.

Her sister lives about a mile down the road and did not lose power, but Albert said driving conditions have made it difficult to get there.

Albert said the blizzard of ‘78 was the worst she’s seen in the area, but this year’s blizzard has still been one of the biggest in recent years.

“It's probably the biggest blizzard we've seen for at least 10 years, if not more,” she said. "There's been a lot of snowfall this winter, but a blizzard like this doesn't come around very often on the South Coast.”

Do you have any photos of the snow you’d like to share? Email them to news@sippicanweek.com.