Hurricane Arthur

Thank you to our town employees for responding to last night's weather.

Highway department, fire department, police department, and light department were all called out to deal with trees downed by the storm. Our emergency management director, Rich Curtis,  is keeping up with the impact of the weather on our community.

Hurricane Arthur

Hurricane Arthur
· Forecast to make its closest approach to Southern New England this evening, passing within    50 miles of Nantucket.

· This track brings tropical storm force winds to the outer Cape and Nantucket and surrounding waters.  Hurricane force winds are possible on the waters south and east of Nantucket.  

· Heavy rain will be the greatest threat over land off the Cape and Nantucket.  Expect widespread 3-5" across eastern MA & RI, with localized higher amounts possible.

· There is a higher than normal risk of rip currents associated with Arthur.  This is likely to continue into the weekend when nicer weather will promote beach going.

· The National Hurricane Center has issued a Tropical Storm Warning for Barnstable (From Provincetown to Chatham) and Nantucket counties related to Hurricane Arthur.
Changes since yesterday:

· Arthur is now a Category 2 hurricane and made landfall overnight in the Outer Banks of North Carolina
· A Flash Flood Watch is in effect until 10 PM for western MA, southern NH, and northern CT
· Another Flash Flood Watch is in effect from 12 Noon to 2 AM for eastern MA & RI except for the Cape & Islands.
 

Power Outages

Customer outage numbers as of 7:00 AM, today, Friday, July 04, 2014:
National Grid between 14,000-15,000 in the Merrimac Valley, North Shore, and Central areas
NSTAR 8,496  All in NSTAR North
WMECO 146  widely distributed
FG&E   163
 

MEMA Operations
MEMA is operating at Level II (Partial Activation) today.  MEMA continues to monitor the track of Hurricane Arthur and continues to prepare for a worst case scenario (meaning landfall on the Cape or Islands).  MEMA is engaged with its Emergency Support Function (ESFs) partners and will bring in some ESFs beginning this evening at 7:00 p.m., Friday, July 04, 2014.

Today at 10:45 am today MEMA will conduct a statewide conference call for local emergency management directors and local, regional and state public safety partners and the National Weather Service.

MEMA will disseminate additional Situational Awareness Statements as needed.