Outages Could Last Nearly a Week For Some Easton Residents

Easton Emergency Officials said Monday that cleanup and recovery from could take at least a few days - and a lot of Easton residents will be affected as a result.

Police Chief said that for some of the approximately 6,000 Easton households without power, the wait could be almost a week for National Grid to repair the damage.

"It could be today or tomorrow for some, but some parts of Easton could be without power until Saturday," he said.

Krajcik met with National Grid representatives in a conference call Monday afternoon along with fire and Department of Puplic Works officials. He said National Grid workers were in Easton and a priority list was being put together.

Currently, Krajcik said, National Grid was working to get its main feeders restored, which supply main sources of power to large areas. Other priority areas include municipal buildings and areas where wires had closed roads.

Currently there are road closures at 84 Summer Street, 151 Highland Street, 111 Howard Streed, portions of Lynda Road, parts of Sheridan and 47 Rockland Street.

Krajcik said response time may be slower from National Grid as opposed to other storms and blizzards because of the lack of support from the company's workers in southern states - who are also busy cleaning up after Irene.

"Usually they would call in extra crews from the south," he said. "But, with this particular storm, those workers are tied up in their own states"

While National Grid works to restore power, Easton town workers have begun clean-up efforts in the town's roadways.

"We do expect it will be many weeks cleaning up the roadways and getting many of the hang-overs that are in the trees," DPW Director Wayne Southworth said.

All emergency officials have urged residents to stay safe and stay away from down wires. Krajcik said that residents without power could supply themselves with water from the town's municipal buildings if necessary.

The Police Station, Fire Stations and DPW buildings are all working on generator power. Phone and internet at the Town Hall are down and the building was closed Monday. Phone and internet access is also out in most of Easton's schools, however the buildings have some generator power. Oliver Ames' freshman orientation scheduled for Tuesday was canceled as a result.

The chief also asked that residents refrain from calling police, fire or DPW departments asking when power would be restored, as it may tie up phone lines for emergencies.

"National Grid is in Easton and they are working to get things back up," he said.

Patch will continue to update residents on power outages and repairs. If your power is restored, please let us know in the comment box or by emailing Patrick.Maguire@Patch.com