PROVIDENCE — Gov. Dan McKee lifted the statewide travel ban at noon Tuesday but encouraged Rhode Islanders who don’t need to go anywhere to please stay home and allow municipalities to continue work clearing secondary roads as the state digs out from a historic blizzard.
Just over 15,000 Rhode Island Energy customers were still without power as of 12:30 p.m. in the aftermath of a blizzard that surpassed even the epic Blizzard of 1978, dumping nearly 40 inches of snow in some parts of the state between Sunday night through Monday night.
Rhode Island Energy President Greg Cornett said that number is expected to be under 10,000 by the end of the day and by or before Thursday, 95% of customers should have their power restored.
“We have never seen this much snow, quite frankly, in the records of Rhode Island,” McKee told reporters gathered for the 10:30 a.m. press conference at the state’s Emergency Management Agency’s Cranston headquarters.
Over three feet of snow fell across many parts of Rhode Island Monday, with accumulations of 37.9 inches recorded at T.F. Green, 37 inches in Cranston and 36.2 inches in Warwick, according to the National Weather Service.
State meteorologist Steven Cascione said the blizzard was the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane with its 10 hours of wind gusts between 35 and 75 mph, producing “the blowing and drifting snow and the incredible low visibilities that I’ve never seen before.”
Some parts of the state saw snow accumulation at a rate of 3 to 5 inches per hour for two to three hours during the storm, said Cascione, who has forecast the weather for the Department of Transportation for the past decade.
“For 48 years, the benchmark of the most powerful storm was the blizzard of ’78,” he added. “That changed Monday.”
As the press conference began, the X account for Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport said runway operations would remain suspended through the afternoon.
Amtrak announced modified service late Monday night. Train schedules show some cancellations for Acela and Northeast regional service to Boston and New York City this afternoon and evening.
A decision on when bus service — which the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority suspended Monday and Tuesday — will resume will likely be made later in the day, agency spokesperson Cristy Raposo Perry said.
The decision to let travel resume came after plows working round the clock made enough progress to “maintain a traffic flow” and allow small businesses to start operating again, McKee said. Officials noted that many highways are generally down to black pavement but much work is still left to do on secondary roads.
“Recover will take time, patience and coordination,” said Marc Pappas, head of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency.
Retiring Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr., whose last day on the job is Friday, said that the state of Connecticut has made snow plowing and removal equipment available to help municipalities dig out.
Robert Rocchio, RIDOT’s chief engineer who will succeed Alviti on an interim basis, said that plow crews are going to “take a brief rest” before starting to assist cities and towns. Snow is expected to be hauled to state-owned properties.
Locations will include property adjacent to RIDOT maintenance facilities, garages, and salt storage sites, department spokesperson Charles St. Martin said in an email.
“In the metro Providence area, we have space off Allens Avenue under the highway,” he said. “We also have a large area off Route 1 at Route 138 in North Kingstown.”
East Providence Mayor Bob Dasilva echoed the state’s call to avoid local travel when possible, noting that many side streets in his city still have yet to be cleared.
“We’re seeing people get stuck in the snow on the side streets and what ends up happening is that [it] slows down our operations,” DaSilva told reporters.
Rhode Island State Police assisted 269 disabled vehicles during the storm, handled 20 crashes, and issued 40 citations for travel ban violations.
“The travel restrictions were put in place to protect lives and allow plows and emergency crews to do their jobs. Compliance overall was strong and made a difference,” State Police Superintendent Col. Darnell Weaver said.
In Providence, ‘a painstakingly slow process’
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said in a phone interview Tuesday that he was thus far “satisfied” with the city’s response to the historic storm, but he acknowledged there remained “a ton of work” to do before the city could get back to normal.
“I mean, this is the largest snowfall in recorded history, and so it’s going to take a few days,” Smiley said. He added that while the city’s main roads have been open for travel since early Tuesday morning, with “black pavement in many places,” the side streets are proving to be a more demanding challenge.
“It is a painstakingly slow process in most snowstorms,” Smiley said, and even more so in this blizzard. The problem, Smiley said, is that the city’s municipal snow equipment consists largely of pickup trucks whose plow blades aren’t tall enough to reach the tops of the snow piles that now line the city.
“Each side street requires either a heavy-duty, 10-wheel truck or a front end loader, like the kind of equipment you’d see on a construction job site,” Smiley said. “There’s only so many of those, and so those guys are out. They’re working hard. They’re going to keep working hard until the job is done, but it’s going to take days.”
The city has put in a request for additional help from DOT, Smiley said, but he added, “So has every other community in Rhode Island. This is not just a Providence problem.”
Smiley said he was in “touch with mayors across New England today, places that didn’t get a lot of snow to see what assistance they have.”
“I’m trying to turn over every possible stone looking for heavy duty equipment,” Smiley said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 1,273 citations issued for cars which had violated the city parking ban, Providence Chief Public Information Officer for Public Safety Kristy DosReis said via email. The parking ban went into effect Sunday afternoon and remains active, with officers now out and about to enforce it, according to DosReis.
DosReis said that the city had towed 321 vehicles as of Tuesday, which is five more than Monday’s total. She did not have a total for the number of cars which had been stuck or abandoned in the city, but she did give an estimate.
“I know as of last night there were upwards of 30 vehicles that were stuck in the snow and had been left by passengers,” DosReis said.
Hospitals weathering the storm
During the storm and since, the state’s 911 system handled 5,469 calls, Weaver said.
An unsigned statement from Brown University Health said that the health system’s “emergency departments and essential hospital operations” remained open and operating as normal as of Tuesday in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
“We have taken comprehensive steps to prepare for the storm, including providing sleeping accommodations for essential staff, ensuring ample food and medical supplies, having backup generators available, and scheduling facilities and snow removal crews to work around the clock,” the statement read.
One category of patients who can’t wait for clean streets: Dialysis patients, who typically need to receive treatments three times a week. Kelly Brennan, a Brown University Health spokesperson, said via email Tuesday that all dialysis patients are on Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday schedules.
“We proactively treated patients on Sunday who would miss their Monday appointment due to the storm,” Brennan said. “We are making accommodations for our Tuesday patients, working diligently to ensure no one misses their appointment.”
Normal schedules will hopefully resume Thursday, Brennan said.
Expanded shelter capacity available
Emergency pop-up shelters are activated and open for people across the state who need a warm place to stay “for the foreseeable future,” the governor’s office said, with the exception of the West Warwick shelter, which is scheduled to close Thursday morning at 9 a.m.
Sites are available at:
- Matthewson Street Church, 134 Matthewson St., Providence
- Community Church of Providence, 372 Wayland Ave., Providence
- Open Table of Christ, 1520 Broad St., Providence
- West Warwick Civic Center, 100 Factory St., West Warwick
Additionally, in coordination with the Rhode Island Red Cross, the State has opened additional regional shelters:
- Gaudet Middle School, 1113 Aquidneck Ave, Middletown
- Jenks Middle School, 350 Division St, Pawtucket
- Broad Rock Middle School, 351 Broad Rock Road, Wakefield
These emergency sites are opening in addition to shelters in communities across the state—no one will be turned away without a place to go. A full list is available on the Executive Office of Housing’s website.
