Town of Middleborough Provides Storm Update; Roads Open, Power Fully Restored After Record Blizzard

MIDDLEBOROUGH — The Town of Middleborough is providing the following update after the record blizzard that impacted communities across Massachusetts earlier this week.

Plow operations remain ongoing throughout town. The Department of Public Works has all roads open and passable and is working to widen roadways to restore two-way traffic where snow narrowing occurred. Crews are also preparing for downtown and sidewalk snow removal operations, which are anticipated to begin on Friday.

Since Thursday of last week, the Town’s emergency management team has met daily to review operations over the previous 24 hours, set objectives for the next operational period, and coordinate resources across departments for a unified response.

The Middleborough Fire Department has been operating with additional staffing and apparatus since 6 p.m. Sunday. Since the onset of the storm through Wednesday afternoon, the department has responded to more than 75 incidents. Most calls were routine in nature, but travel conditions significantly impacted response times.

Due to road conditions and snow depth, the department deployed forestry vehicles for the majority of responses. These vehicles are better suited for deep snow and are equipped with winches, which assist crews when vehicles become stuck. Despite the challenges, firefighters responded to every emergency call received.

The Middleborough Gas and Electric Department (MGED) began receiving outage calls at approximately 2 a.m. Monday. Line workers and gas crews began restoration efforts shortly after, along with plowing, snow removal and related work.

At the height of the storm, approximately 200 customers in Middleborough and Lakeville (the two towns serviced by MGED) were without power, primarily due to downed trees felled by heavy snow and strong winds. One motor vehicle crash involving a utility pole also resulted in outages.

By 4 p.m. Monday, 55 customer outages remained. By 1 p.m. Tuesday, that number was reduced to 18. All outages were restored by 6 p.m. Tuesday.

“We are very proud of the work done by our municipal teams throughout this storm,” said Town Manager Jay McGrail. “Our system performed well during this record-breaking blizzard, and we were among the communities in the region with the lowest number of power outages at the peak of the storm. That is a credit to the preparation, coordination and long hours put in by our public works, fire and police departments and utility crews. We appreciate all the work they did, and we thank residents for their patience and understanding as we continue widening roads and preparing for sidewalk and downtown snow removal.”

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