Hey, world: we still have power outages out here.

Hello again,

Seems to have totally slipped off the radar of the rest of the world, but us here out in north-central Massachusetts (as I have been since Monday) still are dealing with power outages in the region after last Thursday’s ice storm. Those of us who still haven’t restored power from last Thursday’s storm have now gone out and bought generators. The streets at night are a patchwork of lots of Christmas lights, and no lights at all. I’ve been totally off radar, even moreso than when I had finals, checking my email only twice in the past week.

My family lost power last Thursday, had it restored Sunday afternoon, lost it overnight Sunday night, had it restored Tuesday afternoon, lost it by the time I woke up on Wednesday, and had it restored Wednesday evening, where it remains today (with not a large threat with the light, fluffy foot of snow we’re supposed to get today, but a larger threat of losing it Sunday with a wet, heavy snowstorm). Internet and television were out until sometime yesterday afternoon, and now we’re hunkering down for the snowstorm today.

Driving out in this part of the state is quite a sight. I remember the last major ice storm we had (which the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise tells me was 1996), where parts of Townsend lost power for about this long and you could hear the trees breaking and see the flashes of power outages driving at night. From what I remember, this is far worse.

The damage at this point is mostly cleared (though many still do not have power), but the remnants are everywhere. Driving through Ashby and Ashburnham today was like driving through a post-hurricane scene, only with snow. The tops of 60% of the trees are simply gone along Route 119. I’m a little disappointed that the Boston Globe dedicated only one headline to this crippling storm, despite the hundreds of thousands who lost power, most for days, the multiple deaths reported, and total devastation that has gone through this area (not to mention some jerks conning those without power by posing as utility employees). Watching the NECN or any of the network stations, you would think nothing is happening in this portion of the world since last Friday. Perhaps it’s because we are finding it hard to communicate and tell metro Boston about it. Don’t forget that lost power for many (including us here) meant no heat and no water. Shelters are up in most of the schools, and emergency and utilities personnel are still coming in from across the northeast.

And the one article they had in the Globe? It came on Tuesday, talking about Harvard, Mass – which, forgive me, got off with nothing in this storm. A few people had to spend the night at the high school because they had no heat. Meanwhile, entire families in Fitchburg are selling their Christmas presents to buy generators to get out of this. And they still do not have power. Some people in the more remote sections of these towns have been told not to expect power until after this weekend. It’s likely many will still not have power at the start of 2009. The saving grace around these parts has been the round-the-clock coverage offered by WEIM (AM 1280).

Meanwhile, a new storm is coming today with more snow on Sunday. We’ll make it though, because we’re tough New Englanders and that’s what we do, but we’d appreciate a little more attention. I can only imagine how much worse it is further north in New Hampshire. As for today’s storm, Twitter folks can keep with the updates searching for the hashmark #snow1219 in their tweets.

Update: Mea culpa, Globe. I just got today’s issue and noticed the Fitchburg story below the fold. Thanks for keeping us in mind.

Photos below the cut.

My aunt took this picture the day of the storm in Lunenburg:

Here’s one my mom took in Winchendon over the weekend:

Riding back Tuesday I caught took these in Fitchburg and Townsend:

Additional photos from Flickr users: *BGP* (Leominster), dougtone (The Berkshires), and bucklava (Sterling).