South Shore shelters, charging stations open Tuesday as crews restore power after storm

David R. Smith, The Patriot Ledger
Utility workers try to restore power on School Street in Marshfield on Tuesday.
Utility workers try to restore power on School Street in Marshfield on Tuesday.

The lights are still off for many South Shore residents after Monday's high winds and rain knocked out power across the region.

Many residents might not see full power restoration until late Thursday night, according to National Grid, whose outage map showed 31,822 customers in Plymouth County and 14,872 in Norfolk County as being without electricity of 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Eversource likewise continues to deal with thousands of outages in its service areas. Towns including Plymouth and Duxbury each have more than 4,500 customers still in the dark. Carver, Marshfield and other area towns have at least a few thousand outages remaining.

Duxbury firefighters responded to more than 100 calls in the last 24 hours, according to an X post at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

"We currently have 4,509 households without power, which is 64% of the town," the post stated. "@EversourceMA has a large contingent of resources dedicated to power restoration in town."

Schools and the senior center were without power. Traffic was blocked on Route 14/West Street, off Route 3.

The fallen trees that pulled down power lines and blocked roads throughout the South Shore were felled by wind gusts that clocked in at 60 mph or more during the height of the storm.

Hingham police said officers on the day shift Monday responded to 66 reports of trees or wires down. No one was injured, police said on social media.

South Shore school closings

A number of towns along the South Shore canceled school for Tuesday. They include Cohasset, Duxbury, Halifax, Kingston, Marshfield, Norwell, Pembroke, Plympton and Scituate.

Hard-hit Scituate sees improvement

Roughly 60% of Scituate remains without power Tuesday morning, according to Town Administrator Jim Boudreau, going from about 8,600 customers to 5,500 customers overnight, although full restoration isn't expected until Thursday.

Three roads were still closed, but Boudreau said he expects they will reopen by the end of the day: Mann Lot Road, First Parish Road and the Driftway.

Warming centers at the senior center, library and town hall are open Tuesday and will continue with their regular hours through the week.

Hanover fatality and heavy storm damage

An 89-year-old Hingham man was killed when a tree fell on a camper trailer in Hanover on Monday morning. He was identified as Robert Horky, 89.

The accident occurred outside 99 Industrial Way, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said in a statement.

Bill Thistle, who rented property from Horky and knew him for over a decade, told WCVB that Horky "was a great man. He was nice to us all the time, a great landlord."

In Cohasset, a large branch fell onto a southbound vehicle carrying a mother and her infant child on Route 3A at about 10 a.m., Cohasset police said.

Cohasset police posted this picture on social media with its report of a tree hitting a car on Route 3A on Monday morning. The driver and her infant suffered minor injuries, police said.
Cohasset police posted this picture on social media with its report of a tree hitting a car on Route 3A on Monday morning. The driver and her infant suffered minor injuries, police said.

More: At least 1 dead as Level 3 storm wreaks havoc on South Shore: What we saw Monday

Both had minor injuries and were taken to South Shore Hospital by Cohasset firefighters. Route 3A was closed for about 30 minutes to clear debris, police said.

In Hingham, the Plymouth River School was evacuated after a tree fell on the computer lab ceiling. All students were taken to Hingham High School on school buses and no students or staff were near the computer lab when the tree fell, Boston 25 News reported.

Several homes were damaged on the South Shore, including some that sustained extensive damage when trees landed on roofs.

A fallen tree caused significant damage to this Franklin Street home in Weymouth on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023.
A fallen tree caused significant damage to this Franklin Street home in Weymouth on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023.

YMCA and other programs canceled for the day

In Hanover and Quincy, the South Shore YMCA's Emilson and Hale Family branches remained closed this morning. The Y's Gymnastics Center and the before- and after-school programs in Norwell and Scituate also remained closed today due to the power outages.

Quincy police urge safety precautions

Monday night on Facebook, Quincy police advised residents to stay away from downed power lines and trees and wait until daylight to assess damage.

Allow National Grid up to 72 hours to restore power, police said. They asked residents to check on the well-being of elderly family members and neighbors.

Weymouth, Plymouth, Hanson make list of top wind gusts

The National Weather Service released the highest wind gust reports from each county in Massachusetts as of 5:20 p.m. Monday.

The “observations are collected from a variety of sources with varying equipment and exposures. … Not all data listed are considered official,” according to the service.

Blue Hill Observatory had the highest reported wind gust at 90 mph. Blue Hill is the highest point in Massachusetts east of Interstate 495.

The following locations topped the list of highest wind gusts reported:

  • Logan Airport: 68 mph as of 10:53 a.m.

  • Dighton: 66 mph as of 10:26 a.m.

  • Norwood Airport: 67 mph as of 10:35 a.m.

  • Nantucket Airport: 67 mph as of 12:35 p.m.

  • Weymouth: 63 mph as of 10:38 a.m.

  • Hyannis Airport: 63 mph as of 12:27 p.m.

  • Taunton Airport: 63 mph as of 11 a.m.

  • New Bedford Airport: 62 mph as of 10:34 a.m.

  • Chelsea: 61 mph as of 12:04 p.m.

  • Plymouth Airport: 60 mph as of 9:15 a.m.

  • Bedford Airport: 56 mph as of 10:58 a.m.

  • Chatham Airport: 56 mph as of 12:04 p.m.

  • Martha's Vineyard Airport: 56 mph as of 12:27 p.m.

  • Beverly Airport: 55 mph as of 11:41 a.m.

  • Provincetown Airport: 49 mph as of 10:16 a.m.

  • Worcester Airport: 52 mph as of 10:32 a.m.

  • Marshfield Airport: 51 mph as of 12:55 p.m.

  • Hanson: 50 mph as of 11:58 a.m.

  • Fitchburg Airport: 45 mph as of 10:30 a.m.

  • Lawrence Airport: 41 mph as of 11:13 a.m.

  • Lexington: 41 mph as of 11:44 a.m.

  • East Springfield: 40 mph as of 6:15 a.m.

  • Orange Airport: 36 mph as of 6:25 a.m.

Massachusetts rain totals

The National Weather Service also released top rain totals from throughout the state along with the wind data. Monday's totals, from highest to lowest, include the following locations:

  • Bedford Airport: 3.43 inches as of 5:02 p.m.

  • Norwood Airport: 3.18 inches as of 4:53 p.m.

  • Westfield-Barnes Airport: 2.94 inches as of 4:53 p.m.

  • Lawrence Airport: 2.84 inches as of 5:08 p.m.

  • Taunton Airport: 2.74 inches as of 4:52 p.m.

  • Worcester Airport: 2.68 inches as of 5:01 p.m.

  • Beverly Airport: 2.31 inches as of 5:06 p.m.

  • Orange Airport: 2.12 inches as of 4:52 p.m.

  • Logan Airport: 2.01 inches as of 4:54 p.m.

  • New Bedford Airport: 1.96 inches as of 4:53 p.m.

  • Plymouth Airport: 1.67 inches as of 9:52 a.m.

  • Martha’s Vineyard Airport: 0.97 inches as of 5:06 p.m.

  • Provincetown Airport: 0.88 inches as of 5:12 p.m.

  • Chatham Airport: 0.85 inches as of 5:13 p.m.

  • Hyannis Airport: 0.61 inches as of 4:56 p.m.

  • Nantucket Airport: 0.49 inches as of 4:53 p.m.

Check back often as outage numbers and other information and damage reports become available throughout the day.Patriot Ledger staff contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Crews work on power lines Tuesday as South Shore assesses storm damage

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