More than 8,000 Cape Ann homes and businesses were still without power last night as work crews scrambled to restore electrical service and reopen roads in Gloucester and across Cape Ann after it was battered by high winds in Thursday night's storm.
The east-facing shoreline fared the worst of the storm, as winds reportedly as high as 87 mph swept off the Atlantic and buffeted the large houses and motels from Gloucester's back shore to Pigeon Cove in Rockport.
The roof covering a one-story motel building at the Ocean View Inn on Atlantic Road was ripped off the structure by the wind and deposited beside it. The nearby Gloucester Inn By the Sea also suffered heavy roof damage. Nearly every Back Shore property had at least one downed tree.
By 11 a.m. yesterday, the wind had dropped significantly from the night before, but was still whipping across the Back Shore.
On Thatcher Road behind Good Harbor Beach yesterday morning, Jim Doucette was surveying the damage outside his house, where a snapped pine tree was being held up with chains tied to a fire hydrant. A telephone pole dangled over the street nearby.
"I've probably got $10,000 in roof damage," Doucette said. "But just down the street there's a tree lying against someone's house."
At the peak of the storm, as many as 12 roads in Gloucester were closed due to downed trees and power lines, including Western Avenue, Thatcher Road, Concord Street and Dennison Street.
By early last night, Gloucester Public Works crews had reopened all but five mostly smaller streets, said Deputy Fire Chief Miles Schlichte, the city spokesman during the incident.
Gloucester Public Works Director Michael Hale said opening the roads had been the city's top priority, while clearing away the remains of fallen trees and poles would take more time, especially if they are connected to utility lines.
Restoring electricity will be an even longer process.
Although utility company National Grid said its crews have been working around the clock to bring back electricity to the North Shore, a spokeswoman yesterday afternoon said some customers may be in for a "multiday" outage.
Schlichte said the city was bracing to have some parts of the community still without power on Monday, even though 23 National Grid crews were now working in Gloucester alone.
As of 6 p.m., 4,335 customers out of 16,038 total in Gloucester were still without power.
The Gloucester Public Schools canceled classes Friday after seeing the extent of road closures and experiencing electrical outages at both West Parish Elementary and Plum Cove Elementary.
"There were so many power lines down that the busses could not pass and we were worried about having children about with so many downed lines," Schlichte said.
With trees and utility poles falling across the city, Gloucester police found themselves inundated with calls. At Thursday's peak after 10 p.m., police said they received as many as 300 weather-related calls in an hour.
In Gloucester Harbor, three commercial fishing boats were blown from their berths and were retrieved by the Coast Guard between 10:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
At 5 p.m. yesterday, The Red Cross and Cape Ann Emergency Preparedness Coalition opened a shelter at Fuller School with cots and food for anyone displaced by the storm.
In one spot of good news, Hale said the city's water sewer systems, including the Combined Sewer Overflow, had held up during the storm without incident.
Any residents who still need to report a wire, poll or tree down, are advised to call the police department at 800-465-1212.
Patrick Anderson cane be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or via e-mail at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
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