The area of Clinton where my parents live--and where we spent last night--is still without power. Part of the town does have power, and has apparently been online through the entire storm. last night I went down to get grinders for all of us and ran into an elected local official who was taking pizzas to the firehouse in Sterling. He said that word in town was that it would be seven days until all of Sterling is back online.
Our neighborhood is still a disaster area. Route 62 from Redstone Hill Rd. in Lancaster to Sterling Road at the sterling town line is still closed as of 1:30 this afternoon. Traffic heading from Clinton to Sterling is being rerouted up Redstone Hill, but that area is still very treacherous. There is a cable TV or telephone line that has been ripped down and is hanging about six feet over the road as one passes Wiles Rd. Cars can get by, but a truck could easily catch the line. There are a handful of broken poles on Wiles Road and Route 62, with power lines down in multiple places along the roads.
Lancaster is also without power in some places, as there are a number of power lines down along Mill Street.
much of the area looks like a tornado blew through about 20-30 feet off of the ground. In many spots, every tree taller than that has been snapped off; only the younger trees have survived.
It still appears that our home did not suffer any damage, although there is a large limb resting on our power line from the street to the house which may have pulled it far enough off the siding that it will have to be reattached. Otherwise, we are unscathed. below are some photos I took yesterday morning at around 8:30. While they show much of the damage at our home, they do not show all of it. even in the 10 minutes I was out shooting these pictures four or five large branches or tops of trees crashed to the ground. The damage to our yard was noticeably worse when we surveyed it later yesterday.
Michelle's brother has reported that power has been restored (although not TV or internet) to his home in Leominster, so we may head there for tonight if the power is not restored to Clinton soon.
Limbs down in front of the house.
Our Birch tree has been destroyed.
The phone lines in have survived, despite the heavy ice. If you look at the back corner of the house you can see the power line pulling away from the siding.
The downed limbs of the catalpa tree.
The entire north and east side of the catalpa tree has been destroyed. This is the case with many trees, as the storm was a "Nor'easter" and the rain came from that direction, causing the heaviest accumulation on that side of the trees.
Tall grass.
Our blackberry patch.
Ice on the play set.
No game today. As you can see, the ice was so thick that it essentially tripled the thickness of the basketball hoop.Post filed from Panera Bread in Marlborough, as it's the only place I could find with internet access.
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