Blizzard wallops Canton, causes nightmare for DPW

Twenty-eight and a half inches of snow fell within a 21-hour period in Canton between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, prompting DPW Director Mike Trotta to note it was the worst blizzard and snow removal period he could remember in his 30-plus-year career.

The Rodman building on Saturday afternoon (Connor Erickson photo)

Although he didn’t pull his plow drivers off the road, Trotta said the hours between 11 p.m. Friday night into dawn on Saturday were treacherous and blinding, and he had one operator helping contractors and staff workers who got stuck in the snow with their vehicles.

Fortunately, Canton had better luck than many other south shore communities that lost power for several days. According to Fire Chief Charlie Doody, who serves as the town’s emergency management coordinator, there were only a few scattered outages throughout the town. At most, he said, 22 homes were affected for a short amount of time.

Doody said plans were in the works to use Canton High School as an emergency shelter for those residents who lost power, but the need never arose.

Town officials credited Governor Deval Patrick’s driving ban for allowing DPW crews to keep up with the storm. Deputy Police Chief Helena Findlen said police were proactive Thursday night and Friday morning going to past problem areas and encouraging car owners to find an alternative parking spot or face fines and/or tows.

The Fire Department reported no major motor vehicle accidents and took 40 calls within the 21-hour storm period, plus another 10 to 12 calls for carbon monoxide investigations. Fire Prevention Officer Lt. Brian Marshall and Doody said it is important to keep gas vents and dryer vents free of snow to prevent carbon monoxide buildup.

All agreed that the DPW endured the worst of the problems, with many crew members working 32-36 straight hours. A total of 70 DPW staffers and hired contractors worked snow routes beginning at 3 p.m. on Friday.

“It wasn’t bad until just before midnight, and then it deteriorated fast,” said Trotta. “It was snowing two inches per hour. The temperatures dropped a lot suddenly — I would say 10 to 11 degrees and it iced up very quickly. Winds were blowing; it was a whiteout.

“It was difficult to keep the ice off the windshields; vehicles got stuck, many had to pull off the road. I had to keep one unit on, just to help the vehicles that were stuck. We tried to keep the roads open as best we could. It wasn’t until 11 a.m. Saturday that I felt we were able to gain on things.”

“It was the worst snowstorm I have seen in my career,” added Trotta. “I wasn’t around for the ’78 blizzard, but this one was very bad.”

Workers continued snow removal until 8 p.m. Saturday night and then started further cleanup operations early the next morning through late Sunday night. From the calls the DPW received Monday morning, Trotta believes there is a perception in the public that the DPW did not do a good job on this storm.

“I do not know how to answer that,” he said. “The people plowing put their hearts into it. Some guys stayed out there for 36 hours. The average was 32-33 hours. The effort was definitely there. There are some things beyond our control. There are some dead-end streets, and the issue is where do we put the snow? We will make every effort to clean them up.”

As of Monday morning, Trotta said the roads were in fair shape. “It’s a mixed bag right now,” he said. “Some roads have black pavement; some are still slushy and snow covered. We have made progress and will continue to make further progress.”

Doody said the town was prepared for the storm, noting that members of the Emergency Management Committee (Fire, Police, DPW, School Dept., town administrator) met Thursday to map out plans. One communications center was established at the police station to handle emergency calls and another was established at the fire station to coordinate with the Mass. Emergency Management Agency on state actions and supplies. Both centers were deactivated at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Doody said he was in constant contact with NSTAR to handle power concerns and said it was advantageous to have an NSTAR staff member working directly with him.

Doody also shared some other statistics about the storm. Neighboring Stoughton had 31 inches of snow, and winds were constantly at 30 miles per hour with some gusts exceeding 70 miles per hour at Blue Hills Observatory. Two Reverse 911 calls were made to residents: one Thursday to warn residents about the impending storm and another on Saturday to warn about carbon monoxide exposure.

Doody said there was no school on Monday to give the DPW a chance to improve sidewalks, walkways, parking lots, and to clear snow off the roofs and away from all exit doors.

Doody noted that commercial property owners should be aware of the heavy snow on their roofs, especially with Monday’s rainstorm. The Fire Department is checking on such roofs that had problems two years ago with large snowfall totals. Anyone with questions should contact Building Commissioner Ed Walsh or the Fire Department.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Feb 14 2013. Filed under News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.