Blandford continues snow, damage cleanup from Nor’easter

BLANDFORD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - Cleanup efforts continued Wednesday following the powerful nor’easter that hit Massachusetts and left behind extensive damage and many without power in the state.

“Back where I’m from, we got rain, maybe a dusting towards the morning and that was it and once we got through Springfield area, it started to accumulate more and up here. It’s like drastically different,” said Travis Murphy from South Plymouth.

Murphy experienced a much different sight as he traveled from the eastern part of Massachusetts to Blandford, where he saw almost two feet of snow piled up alongside the roads. It’s something he told Western Mass News that he has not witnessed at all this winter.

“We haven’t had any snow, no ice to go ice fishing. It’s been super warm and I feel like it’s been drastically different than all the other past winters we’ve had recently,” Murphy added.

Strong winds hit Blandford on Wednesday as the town continued cleanup efforts following the nor’easter.

“The town administrator declared a state of emergency for the town…I’ve seen worse. This didn’t seem too bad,” said Joann Martin of Blandford.

Blandford Town Administrator Christopher Dunne told us power is almost completely restored to the town as crews work to clear the remaining downed power wires and trees.

“With the number of downed trees and the nature of this heavy wet snow, things are taking a little bit more time than they normally would,” Dunne said.

He added that the state of emergency will remain in effect for now as the strong winds are expected to continue through the night.

“Please be aware there are still trees that could potentially fall, stay off the roads if you can as our highway crews are continuing to plow the roads and please be patient. Emergency services or highway department, their response times are still delayed due to the weather,” Dunne explained.

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