Saturday, Oct 29th: Evening
After we lost power, we finished dinner, put dishes in the dishwasher. The snow was piling up much more quickly and heavier than originally predicted. Around 9 PM, we could hear what ended up being branches snapping and crashing to the ground. As we looked out into the darkness it was only the shadows on the white snow that gave us an idea of what had fallen. You would hear the cracking and a softer crash indicated it was further away. One of the loudest occurred was when the wires were torn off the house. I could see the shadow outside the office window and when we shone the flashlight out the window, we certainly could see the wires on the ground. In my naivete at that time, I called National Grid to report it. That was about 10 PM. We then went to bed to try to get some sleep. However, I have to say it was one of the scariest nights I ever experienced. You would lie in bed and hear the cracking and just pray that nothing fell on the roof of the house. As we were lying in bed, another very loud crash shook the house and we could see a large tree across the back yard and were quite sure it took out our shed behind the garage. Somehow that evening we slept. Waking in the morning light showed the extent of the damage.
Sunday, Oct 30th: Early Morning
As we awoke, the damage was devastating... Tree and large branches were all over the ground. A second branch took down another portion of wires to our house. Yes, the shed was crushed. It appeared the house and garage survived unscathed. Looking across to our neighbors, it didn't look so bad...a few branches down but his wires to his house were still intact. Ed and I then ventured outside. Ed moved some of the branches blocking the driveway while I ventured down the street. That is when the full extent of the damage really sank in. There were wires down across our street, many houses with wires torn off the house, tree limbs in the street and some still hanging perilously in the power lines. The road was unpassable not only due to the damage, but due to the snow. The total snowfall was closer to 18" than 6". As I walked towards Route 9, the damage clearly extended well beyond our little, dead-end street. Route 9 (which is a state highway) was not yet plowed and there were abandoned cars in the road and trees and branches down that only allowed a small, single lane to get through. Wires were down on Route 9 as well. It was clear this was huge. The words used by several people to describe what we saw was "war zone" and that pretty much summed it up.
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| Back yard Sunday morning...This picture is pretty with the snow and blue sky totally opposite of the evening before. |
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| Front yard showing the wires pulled down. |
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| Back yard with a fallen tree. |
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| Route 9 looking east. |
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