Police, Eversource working to restore power after thunderstorm
After a violent thunderstorm swept through the South Coast, over 50,000 people were left without power including almost all of Wareham.
The storm came through around 8 p.m. Thursday, July 3 and at one point left over 70% of Wareham without power.
Currently, Eversource is in town working to have all power restored by the evening of Friday, July 4, according to Wareham Police Emergency Management Director Calib LaRue.
All trees and wires down should be reported to the Onset and Wareham Fire Departments. LaRue said emergency management is keeping a list of trees and wires down to report to Eversource.
As of 9:42 a.m. Friday, July 4, almost half of town is still without power according to Eversource.
According to Wareham Assistant Fire Chief Pat Haskell answered 70 calls ranging from fires, accidents, utility emergencies, and well has structures damaged by falling trees between late Thursday evening and early Friday morning.
He added every Wareham firefighter responded and the department was assisted by Marion, Carver and Middleborough Fire Departments.
Many residents witnessed the storm and noted the high winds and a lot of lightning.
“All of a sudden the sky got dark so I went outside to see if there was thunder and lightning coming and I was immediately hit with the wind,” said Heather Tello. “I put my umbrella down just in time and ran in the house to tell my daughter to come outside because the trees were just sideways.”
Len Boutin was coming back to Wareham from Plymouth who said he saw more signs of the storm as he got into Wareham.
“I saw the lights were on at Stop and Shop and then a little ways up the street there was no more power,” Boutin said.
He added he first lost power around 8:05 p.m. and was still without power as of 7:30 Friday morning.
When the lightning started, Sandy Slavin said she got a good view of it from her house.
“We have skylights all over the place so the house was lit up with lightning,” she said.
At this time there is no shelter open so the police can focus on doing what they can to get power restored, according to LaRue.