2. Tropical Storm Irene – Gary McCarraher
Worked through conflicting info from the weather services until the National Weather service took priority with their accuracy
55 MPH winds marked at Fire Stations, 100 emergencies responded during Sunday
fortunately no injuries to workers or residents on Sunday
all roads were passable by 10:00 PM Sunday evening
National Grid did not show up on Sunday at all
multiple communications with National Grid with commitment to have someone on site Monday
priorities to restore power to key areas and water service
Central Park Terrace, senior housing, those with oxygen needs were dealt with as necessary
priority listing set up one day for action the next day
School St, Parmenter, etc were priority on Tuesday listing
South St, Summer, Beach priority for Weds due to primary lines down
Beach St, Elm, Indian Way for Thu
Police surveyed the town to cross check power outages
restoration of individual home services were addressed on Fri, Sat and Sun
maintained communications via CCTY, consolidated messages with schools
Lessons Learned:
market Ctty service, to cell phone service in addition to land lines
public cell phone charging area
improve power sign board options
additional learning will be reviewed in another meeting of the departments
Kelly - what about National Grid and their response? they did not get here until Tuesday
Nutting - requesting a meeting to discuss, one of their problems was trying to communicate with 27 communities, too confusing
McCarraher - One of our keys to success was getting someone into Franklin
13,000 electrical customers, about 10,000 were out initially
Nutting - it wasn't a good communication from the beginning, it was a multi-day event but they couldn't say how long - they had a corporate decision and lost hundreds of folks three weeks prior and simply were not prepared.
McGann - what did we get from a representative?
McCarragher - we wanted information, when we called it was like it was the first time, the representative was able to navigate their queue. I just needed reasonably accurate information so we could make our decisions. We were frequently getting lost in the mix, we got scheduling done with constant contact and making sure we didn't get lost in the shuffle. The guys on the street did a marvelous job, the problem was in the back room and getting the prioritization set up.
Vallee - following upon the comment
McCarragher - it is early, only first quarter to have data with the current staffing. I am concerned about it, it is not regular bu depending upon what can happen, it could be slower response.
Mason - thanks to your help, the operation was impressive
Nutting - our first obligation is to Franklin
Dick O'Connor (from Rep Vallee office)
