Published in the September 3, 2019 edition.
As a raging Hurricane Dorian was poised to slam the southeastern U.S., a two-man crew from the Municipal Gas and Light Department was deployed to Florida to help however they can should power be lost.
Lead Lineman Rich Fedele and First Class Lineman Mike Capraro left the North Avenue headquarters Saturday at 4 a.m. as part of an 18-crew contingent sent by the New England Power Association. The decision to send the men was made last week, as the fierce hurricane picked up steam in the Caribbean. It has since stalled over the Bahamas, pounding the islands for a day and a half in a catastrophic onslaught that sent floodwaters up to the second floors of buildings, trapped people in attics and chased others from one shelter to another. At least five deaths were reported.
The utility crews from New England were required to be at the staging area in Orlando, Florida by Sunday night. Fidele and Capraro met that requirement, according to MGLD General Manager Peter Dion.
As of daybreak Tuesday, Dorian’s winds had dipped to 120 mph, making it a still highly dangerous Category 3 hurricane, and the storm was at a standstill, with part of its eyewall hanging over Grand Bahama Island since Sunday night.
The storm was centered 35 miles northeast of Freeport and 110 miles off West Palm Beach, Florida. Hurricane-force winds extended out as far as 45 mph in some directions.
Dorian was expected to approach the Florida coast later Tuesday, but the threat to the state eased significantly, with the National Hurricane Center’s projected track showing most of the coast outside the cone of potential landfall. No place in Florida had more than an 8% chance of getting hit by hurricane-force winds.
Over the long Labor Day weekend, hundreds of thousands of people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina — more than 800,000 in South Carolina alone — were ordered to evacuate for fear Dorian could bring life-threatening storm-surge flooding even if the hurricane’s center stayed offshore, as forecast. Several large airports announced closings, and hundreds of flights were canceled.
The U.S. Coast Guard airlifted at least 21 people injured on Abaco Island in the Bahamas, which Dorian hit on Sunday with sustained winds of 185 mph and gusts up to 220 mph), a strength matched only by the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, before storms were given names.
—
The
Associated
Press
contributed
to
this
report.