Watertown Police Department
Utility poles along Arsenal Street fell during Friday’s Nor’easter.
A tree fell on a Watertown home and Watertown Police closed Arsenal Street for a time after several utility poles fell during the Nor’easter that hit the area Friday.
The tree fell on and struck a home on Bellevue Avenue, about 2:45 p.m. Friday afternoon. The tree also pulled up some blocks of sidewalk concrete when it fell, according to scanner reports.
Another tree fell onto a home on Oliver Street at about 4:30 p.m., according to scanners.
A telephone pole came down near the Watertown Boys & Girls Club at about 2:45 p.m. It damaged a fence near the clubhouse, but was moved out of the way at about 3:05 p.m. according to the scanner.
The most recent damage was a tree falling onto a garage on Watertown Street at about 6:10 p.m.
Arsenal Street
A photo on the Watertown Police Department’s Facebook pages shows multiple poles on their sides, including some with street lamps on top. The photo appears to be near the block of businesses on the north side of the street between Beechwood Avenue and Louise Street. A video from WCVB Channel 5 shows wires suspended low in the air near the Lexus of Watertown dealership. The wires are still live.
Eversource is sending crews to repair the damage, according to scanner reports.
The number of power outages in town was down to 543 at 2:50 p.m. At about 12:45 p.m. 973 Eversource customers in Watertown had no power, according to the Eversource website. Around Eastern Massachusetts, 11,167 customers were without power as of 12:44 p.m. on Friday, and that increased to 32,012 two hours later.
The area is under a high wind warning through 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 3. The storm could drop up to five inches of rain on the Boston area, according to the National Weather Service.
It just happens that these poles came down in the immediate area where extensive roadwork and sidewalk upgrade occurred last year. And I do not believe that there was a pole upgrade during that time. Charlie, could you verify that with your sources?
It does look like it is in the area where the new-ish bike path goes in front of the businesses on Arsenal Street.
I think the poles got moved to accommodate the new sidewalk but were not replaced. So maybe they were not properly installed in their new locations? No way they should have come down if a tree did not hit them.
Can’t we get Eversource et al to bury the wires at last for the good of the community, both for safety in these storms getting worse each year and for the use of the sidewalks and look of the street being developed. Everyone prefers underground utilities, particularly at new developments. Here’s our chance. The rules of a public utility should serve the public.
You are quite right Barbara. All this money being thrown around on new construction in town and there is no money to put the utilities underground. Disappointing to say the least.
Tree limb broke off neighbors tree and damaged my car. The huge oak needs to have several branches taken off or could cause damage to homes.
Oh no, sorry to hear about the damage.
Poor planning on the town.steve magoon who. Is the town planner should shoulder the blame.he approved the stupid bike path.Yes this is the bike path that is never used.i have lived there for 45 years and never saw any lines go down.they are very incopetent.at the town hall.They approve anything to get tax revenue,but do not care abiut its citizens.
I saw a very high expense number for burying utilities along Arsenal St. where the various development projects are taking place. The developers say they cannot bear the cost, like so much of U.S. business these days, not viewing local communities as “stakeholders” who deserve to be serviced. And then, people don’t want to pay higher taxes even if it means decaying infrastructure.