By Alice Waugh
Hundreds of Lincoln residents shivered through extended power outages resulting from the February 5 snowstorm, but many of them shared updates, advice and even offers of hospitality online, even as another snowstorm approached.
“Because of the heaviness of the snow, we lost a lot of trees branches and wires, and there were some road closings,” Lincoln Police Department dispatcher Mike Keough said on Monday night. There were no reports of problems due to Monday’s storm, however. “Today was pretty uneventful,” he said.
Residents resorted to the LincolnTalk email list and emails to the Lincoln Squirrel to report on the power-outage situation around town. Eversource kept customers updated through its website and robocalls that promised all power in town would be restored by 11:59 p.m. on Saturday night.
As of 9 p.m. on Monday night, all Eversource customers in Lincoln had electricity. There were scattered outages in surrounding towns including Weston and Wayland, though it was unclear how many of those outages (if any) were holdovers from Friday’s storm or new problems as a result of Monday’s snow.
At the Board of Selectmen meeting on Monday, Selectman Peter Braun praised the town’s public safety and DPW staff for their response. “The storm on Friday was a real disaster in the making, and now they’re back at it. Hopefully they got some rest” between storms, he said.
Selectman Noah Eckhouse advised residents in the future not to call Lincoln emergency personnel to report non-safety-related power outages or ask when their power might be restored. While some frustration was understandable, “it’s somewhat counterproductive” to contact police rather then Eversource, he said.
Last Friday evening as the snow piled up, residents began sharing their stories, many of them sprinkled with humor or frustration (see a selection below). But Lincoln Road resident Toby Frost outdid them all with a blow-by-blow account of her travails, ending with some solid advice for future blackouts: keep a working cell phone with you at all times.
“Finally, when things go very wrong, I believe it will always be possible in a community like Lincoln to find help if you just tell your story and explain what you need in a gentle way, and show your appreciation for whatever help you get,” she wrote. Click here to read Frost’s complete story.)
Friday, Feb. 5
8:40 p.m.
No power on Boyce Farm Road since 3 p.m.
— Tricia Deck
8:43 p.m.
We lucked out on Deer Run. Lost power around 3 p.m., but it was back on by 7 p.m.
— Vin Cannistraro
9:18 p.m.
Half of Tower road is dead since about 11 a.m… Pines around me have been dropping some big branches. That is a much bigger concern than power.
— Apolinaras Sinkevicius
Saturday, Feb. 6
7:26 a.m.
There are branches all along the wires on my driveway pulling the wires way down. I lost power briefly yesterday but so far, fortunately, I still have power. I called Eversource yesterday around 2 p.m. and explained the dangerous trees and wire situation (my snow plow can’t come as long as this situation continues)… Eversource (a real person, not a recording) said two hours. I just checked the branches this morning and they are still on the wires pulling the wires way down. All up and down the driveway. I know there are people without power and roads blocked so I can’t help but wonder how long I will be here unable to drive out or in. Just one person, one driveway. You’d think Eversource would know how to do this? No snow plow until the branches are removed from the wires. But perhaps Eversource is still helping out in the mid-Atlantic storm a couple of weeks ago? By the way, I just called Eversource and was told by a machine that they were “closed” and to call back during regular business hours Monday through Friday… couldn’t talk to a real person. Not that that would help; I talked to a “real” person yesterday and nothing happened anyway.
—Jean Palmer (Tower Road)
10:07 a.m.
Down the road I saw a utility truck. I walked to it. It was a Comcast truck. The driver said he was providing power to the cable system “so people with generators can have Netflix!” Now that’s customer service I don’t usually hear about of Comcast. It was just the laugh I needed this morning. Meanwhile, we wait for electricity… Progress is slow: 381 [Lincoln customers] out now. 399 at 8:00 last night. Eep.
—Eric Zimmerman (Silver Hill Road)
10:12 a.m.
We lost power in our neighborhood at about 3:00 and got it back at about 6:45. We did not see any utility activity or downed trees in our immediate vicinity. We did file a report by cell phone with Eversource at about 5 and asked for updates by text, but we never got anything. They really should confirm when power is back because people may go elsewhere during an outage and would like to hear when things are normalized back at their homes.
—Charlie Hadlock (Sandy Pond Road)
10:51 a.m.
Just to let you know the library has power and we are open until 5 p.m. today if you need a place to recharge both phones and spirits.
—Lisa Rothenberg, Lincoln Public Library
11:11 a.m.
Twin Pond Lane was still out this morning at 10 a.m. That’s just two hours short of 24 hours without power. It appears that Eversource did not choose their name wisely…
—Zach Woods
2:02 p.m.
Ran errands to the bank (closing soon) and Donelan’s. Returned home and power had gone out almost exactly at noon. Read, waited, dozed briefly, awoke to a cold house. Waited through the afternoon. Powerless. Left for dinner at sister’s in Cambridge. Returned to Goose Pond Rd. a little after 9 p.m.; lots of lights, except Goose Pond. Dark, beautiful snow scenes in the headlights. Still powerless. Back to Cambridge. Power on in the morning. Beautiful snow scenes outside any window; warm house.
—Mark Masterson (Goose Pond Road)
4:25 p.m.
Looks like a swarm of power trucks on Tower and 117. Progress!
— Apolinaras Sinkevicius
7:47 p.m.
We lost power at 3 p.m. yesterday (Friday). Our whole street was out until 4 p.m. today. It came on and then went out again for another hour. It is back on now. I did not see any downed lines.
—Tricia Deck (Boyce Farm Road)
10:33 p.m.
Power finally came on shortly before I arrived back home at 6:45 p.m. for Twin Pond Lane. That’s 30 hours without power. Without Saturday’s sun and the passive solar capabilities of my house I would have had frozen pipes for sure!
—Zach Woods
11:10 p.m.
Not optimistic about 11:59. No power on Beaver Pond Road and it’s 11:30. Trucks go by, but they don’t seem to know where the problem is. Good thing we have a wood stove and a gas range!
—Gary Davis
Sunday, Feb. 7
5:19 p.m.
YAY. Apparently Eversource finally removed the branch (cut in pieces) from the wires late-ish this afternoon. But they put the pieces on the driveway, thus blocking the driveway. Guess they figured we’d want to put the pieces someplace special ourselves? Or perhaps they thought we wanted the exercise of moving them? I’m assuming it’s Eversource; No one walked up to tell us or even called.
—Jean Palmer
Just a suggestion for the future. Those wireless phones run on electricity so you are out of luck in an outage. But I have found that those old plug in the wall phones do usually work, so I have kept one for emergencies. Yep, it’s ugly but in an emergency it’s downright beautiful.
I guess I live in a lucky area. Only about 3 hours w/o power. Didn’t go out, fire in the fireplace, candles attended to read by, brick house that holds the heat well- nice and cozy!