WORCESTER — The extreme weather that ripped through Massachusetts Saturday, Sept. 6 with high winds, thunderstorms and a confirmed tornado touching down in Holden, also plunged hundreds of residents of the Worcester Housing Authority into darkness.
The outage affected 520 families in the Great Brook Valley complex who were still without power at noon Sunday, Sept. 7 although housing officials had been assured crews were deployed to address the outage. It was the only Worcester Housing Authority property that lost power, according to an agency spokesman.
According to the National Weather Service, a confirmed tornado touched down Saturday, Sept. 6 in Holden. A tornado warning for Worcester and communities to the north and east ended at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.
By late afternoon, hours after Pride Worcester attendees had started to converge on the Common, the scene was a quiet one. Rain dampened the plans.
The storm roared through Central Massachusetts around 4 p.m., prematurely shuttering the Worcester Pride Festival, forcing vendors and revelers to pack up and seek shelter. The Worcester Red Sox game was also postponed that was scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 7 as a singe-admission doubleheader. The Breakaway Mass concert, scheduled to open doors at 4 p.m. at the Worcester Palladium, was also affected.
Worcester Police reported numerous calls Saturday, Sept. 6 detailing fallen branches, trees and localized flooding throughout the afternoon. The calls included a report of a large branch that had fallen on Wabash Avenue at 3:17 p.m.; a large fallen tree on Crowningshield Road at 3:26 p.m. and localized flooding on West Boylston Street in front of O’Connors Restaurant & Bar at 4:47 p.m.
Massachusetts residents and electrical crews began cleanup Sunday, Sept. 7 of fallen branches in many communities, uprooted trees and downed wires.
A Worcester Housing Authority spokesman said the agency setup several robo-calls to alert residents to the power outage and to provide updates. At 10 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 7 the agency posted its concerns on its Facebook page.
“We are deeply concerned by the loss of power and its impact on our residents, particularly our most vulnerable, including the elderly,” according to the post. The agency assured residents that staff was on site and in touch with National Grid, the power supplier under contract with the agency.
While the post urges affected residents to call National Grid directly, residents posting replies point out that their utility bills are included in their rent and tenants do not have individual accounts with the utility company, though the utility company commonly requests callers provide their account numbers when calling.
A second statement on the agency’s page posted at noon Sunday, Sept. 7 requested residents turn off appliances in anticipation of crews restoring power.
“As efforts continue to restore power as quickly as possible, we ask you to turn off all stove burners, ovens and electrical appliances…this will help limit the potential for fires as some appliances may have been in use when the outage hit,” the post reads.
National Grid’s interactive outage map reflects 75 outages across Worcester County as of 1:50 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7 down from 969 customers initially affected. Calls to National Grid were not immediately returned.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Great Brook Valley residents without power after extreme weather