MELROSE — Local public safety crews and those from power supplier National Grid hustled all over the city Monday as front liners dealing with a powerful, wind-whipped storm that brought down trees, flooded streets and knocked out electricity.
Police began fielding calls for storm-related service around 8:10 a.m. when someone said a tree and wires were down at Penney Road and Dexter Road. At 8:12 a.m. a tree and wires were down at Porter Street and Sheffield Road. A wire was down on Ashland Street around 8:20 a.m. Limbs and wires were down on Leonard Road around 8:30 a.m. At 8:52 a.m. limbs and wires were reported down on Sylvan Street.
At 9:04 a.m. a wire was down at Birch Hill and Glendower roads. Wires were down on Melbourne Avene, Greenwood Street, Waverly Avenue, Swains Pond Avenue and in the 300 block of Main Street.
Calls continued steadily. At 10:45 a.m. a tree took down wires on Whitwell Street. Wires were down at 10:57 a.m. on Harvard Street. At 11:34 a.m. a tree came down on Washington Street. A wire was reported down on Mount Zion Road around 11:50 a.m. A wire was down on Vinton Street just before noon.
Just after noontime, a wire was down at Lebanon and Appleton streets. At 12:54 p.m. someone reported flooding on West Wyoming Avenue. A wire was down on Ardsmoor Road around 2 p.m. A tree was down on Aaron Street around 2:35 p.m. At about 6 p.m. a tree and wires were down on Washington Street.
When the storm finally moved from the area Monday night, there was a lot to clean up.
The storm pummeled the entire Northeast, flooding roads and downing trees, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, and forcing flight cancelations and school closures.
More than 5 inches of rain had fallen in parts of New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania by mid-morning, and parts in several other states got more than 4 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Wind gusts reached nearly 70 mph along the southern New England shoreline.
Power was knocked out for more than 700,000 customers in an area stretching from Virginia north through New England, including over 278,000 in Massachusetts and 263,000 in Maine, according to poweroutage.us.
Many flights were cancelled or delayed across the region. Boston’s Logan International Airport grounded all flights Monday morning because of the poor conditions, leading to more than 100 canceled flights and about 375 delays, according to the flight-tracking service FlightAware. At New York City area airports, nearly 80 flights were canceled and more than 90 were delayed.
An 89-year-old Hingham, Massachusetts, man was killed early Monday when high winds caused a tree to fall on a trailer, authorities said. In Windham, Maine, police said part of a tree fell and killed a man who was removing debris from his roof.
The storm moved up the East Coast on Saturday and Sunday, breaking rainfall records and requiring water rescues. It brought unseasonably warm temperatures of more than 60 degrees to the Northeast on Monday.
Monday’s rain and wind came a week after a storm caused flooding and power outages in the Northeast after spawning deadly tornadoes in Tennessee.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.