Middleboro plows through blizzard cleanup after 36 inches makes landfall

MIDDLEBORO — Roads continue to improve and power has remained on for much of Middleboro as snow cleanup progresses in town.

Most roads are open for travel, Fire Chief Owen Thompson said, and road crews are now widening already-plowed streets as officials work to return normal services to town.

Thompson said Middleboro averaged about 36 inches of snowfall since the blizzard broke early Monday morning.

“It's obviously the largest storm we've had in this area in many years,” Thompson said.

He said town departments responded “very well” to the storm, noting strong communication at daily emergency-management meetings. He also praised Middleboro Gas and Electric for keeping power on in most of the town and the efficient work of DPW snow-removal crews.

“With the amount of snow that fell, there's no municipality that has enough equipment to keep up with the amount or the duration that fell,” Thompson said.

He said the fire department remained open throughout the storm without  reducing the amount of emergency calls it responded to. The department saw no major storm-related emergencies.

Middleboro Gas and Electric has reported “single-digit” power outages across the entire town since Tuesday, Thompson said. 

He said road conditions on Wednesday are “safer” than they have been, but urges residents to stay indoors if travel isn’t necessary.

Middleboro resident Lorna Brunelle and her young nieces and nephews offered free cookies to snowplow drivers at a North Street roadside stand Wednesday morning. She said it's their way of giving back to the “unsung heroes” of the storm and a way to get outside after being snowed in.

“[The cookie stand] is an awesome opportunity for us to get outside, but also teach lessons in gratitude, because if they weren't making the road safe and clear, we wouldn't be able to do anything,” Brunelle said.

She said just hearing cars drive past her house is a change since the “doozy” of a blizzard — and the Governor's travel ban — stopped travel for Monday and much of Tuesday. 

She said a number of vehicles got stuck along Nemasket Street near North Street intersection Wednesday morning, and she’s seen them towed up the large hill. Seeing the nearly 10-foot-tall snow drifts is “baffling,” she said.

In the Oak Point neighborhood, resident John Burbage said snow-removal crews are making headway plowing out the neighborhood. He and his wife have been housebound since Monday morning, and said he expects to be able to leave his neighborhood by this evening. 

“We have a little more hope I think,” he said with a laugh.

This week’s blizzard reminds him of the serious winter storms that hit the region in 2015.

“It has the familiar ring of, ‘Where do I put all this snow?’” Burbage said.