by WPRO News Staff
(PROVIDENCE-) Thousands of Rhode Island homes and businesses remain in the dark following Friday’s major Nor’easter which caused winds to gust over 60 miles an hour. National Grid warned its customers without power that all might not be restored until Monday afternoon.
“We’re going to be going at it as hard as we can today and tomorrow. There’s a lot of damage out there, there’s a lot of work to be done”, said Ted Kresse, spokesman for National Grid in Rhode Island. “Our goal is to get the vast majority of folks up by Monday afternoon,” he said.
Rhode Island’s Emergency Management Agency announced that members of the National Guard would be sent to the state’s towns and cities to help assist in the removal of debris.
“We’ve been working on getting some National Guard assets available to local municipalities to assist in tree clearing,” said Pete Gaynor, Director of Rhode Island Emergency Management.
The storm, which is being called one of the worst of its kind, is blamed for the death of a 72 year old Newport man who was struck and killed by a fallen tree on his property. Police tells the Newport Daily News Robert Beaver was found pinned under a tree on his Ruggles Ave. property.
The Rhode Island Bridge and Turnpike Authority announced late Friday night that all travel restrictions were removed from its bridges. All traffic on the Newport Bridge was halted for several hours Friday afternoon after the wind toppled a truck on the span. High profile vehicles were also banned on the Jamestown and Mt. Hope bridges. Another truck toppled on the Braga Bridge between Fall River and Somerset, Mass.
Both train and air travel was slowly returning to normal on Saturday. Amtrak announced service would resume on its Northeast Corridor Saturday morning after being suspended because of debris and flooding on the tracks Friday. Air travel was also beginning to return to normal after dozens of cancellations and delays Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning.
River flood warnings remain posted along the Pawtuxet, Pawcatuck and Wood Rivers in Rhode Island. The National Weather Service lowered its flood forecast on the Pawtuxet in Warwick and Cranston. The river is currently forecast to reach 2 feet above its flood stage early Sunday morning. That’s a foot below Friday’s forecasts, which called for the River to hits a level not seen since the historic 2010 flooding. Forecasters say attention must be paid to the Pawtuxet with several other storm systems expected over the next week. Coastal flood warnings remain in effect along the east facing coast of Massachusetts, where moderate to major coastal flooding occurred Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning.
