A Year After Irene, Are You Prepared?

Tropical Storm Irene rolled into Rhode Island a year ago today. Have you taken any steps to be ready in case of another storm?

  It's been a year since Tropical Storm Irene roared into Rhode Island, leaving thousands without electrical power for up to a week — and inundating Bristol and Warren clean-up crews with downed branches and debris. Many folks will also probably remember the run on batteries, especially D-types, that emptied nearly every local store. Utility company National Grid, which officials and residents criticized last year for delays in restoring electrical service, this year issued a list of steps it's taken to be in better shape to respond to potential problems. Now that we're back in hurricane season — although there's no immediate threat of a storm of Irene's power — it's a good time to ask: Have you done anything to prepare for another …

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Sunken Vessels Will Mean Higher Fees for Boaters

Boaters will pay anywhere from an extra $2 to $20 for the state to recover abandoned boats.

Boaters throughout the state will have to pay extra fees in order for the state to fund the removal of abandoned boats, reports The Providence Journal.  The state hopes to create a $100,000 yearly fund to remove waterway obstructions, according to The Journal article. Boaters will have to pay an extra $2 to $20 yearly.  There have been a couple sunken vessels in the area, specifically in Portsmouth, in the last 12 months, especially after Hurricane Irene.  In March of this year, Portsmouth Patch blogger Doug Smith reported a boat still remained sunk in The Cove, just south of Spectacle Island, more than six months after the hurricane. This boat is believed to still be in the water. 

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Poll: Should Utility Companies Cut Trees More Aggressively?

A National Grid leader says the company will be more active in trimming trees around electrical wires, if towns give them permission.

After a litany of speakers criticized National Grid's preparation for Tropical Storm Irene and the Halloween weekend storm Thursday night, the president of National Grid Massachusetts said her company would get more aggressive at trimming trees, if towns let them. National Grid Massachusetts President Marcy Reed said to the audience during a public hearing: "Last year new legislation passed, which allows us to present an annual tree-trimming plan to a town or city's tree warden. If the tree warden approves the plan, we can then go into the town and do our work without the need to attend weekly meetings and talk about particular areas of concern." How do you feel? Should National Grid get more aggressive at cutting back trees located near …

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Grampy

7:51 am on Monday, December 5, 2011

Yes i'm refering to tree trimming...The bottom line is no one wants to pay to have them either trim the trees, or bury the lines..   more ›

Cox Offers Refunds for Cable, Phone, Internet Outage

Cox Communications customers could be entitled to a refund from outages caused by Irene.

Did you lose internet service and cable during tropical storm Irene? Did your phone lines cut out during the storm? If you are a Cox Communications customer, you may be entitled to a refund for service outages from the storm. According to Amy Quinn of Cox Communications, the company will supply reimbursements for customers whose internet, cable and/or phones were down as a result of tropical storm Irene. "We will credit their account based on the number of days they were out," she said. Bristol resident Cynthia Osmanski is one of thousands of customers who lost internet and cable during the storm, so after a friend told her to call her provider, she discovered she could get credited for the lost service. "They were very nice and gave me no…

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Towns Struggling to Clean Debris From Irene

Public works departments ask residents to be patient with brush cleanup.

Though Irene struck Bristol and Warren more than two weeks ago, public works employees are still struggling to pick up the mess. “Let me tell you, we are overwhelmed,” said Judy Fardig of the Warren Department of Public Works. “We have our chippers, backhoes and trucks out, but there’s just so much of it.” Irene’s high winds and torrential downpours knocked down power lines, trees and limbs on Sunday, Aug. 28, but DPW officials say there has been too much brush to catch up. “There’s just so much of it,” Fardig said. “You pick some up and go down the street and there’s so much more.” Fardig said one problem is that residents who know DPW is coming to pick up the brush are now cutting down trees to get rid of them. Fardig asks that residents…

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David Silvia

8:12 pm on Monday, September 19, 2011

Mr. Burns, you should check your facts before putting them on a blog, Warren has not applied for anything yet, as of Friday they just found out what there suppose to apply for. With that being said, the town officials did not plan to do clean up, because the amount of men required needed to be more then 8 and more equipment would have speedy up the progress. So before this goes out off of topic, …   more ›

Residents Flood Insurance Companies with Irene Questions

Residents wonder what, if anything, is covered by their insurance.

The impact left by Tropical Storm Irene was felt by residents up and down the Eastern Seaboard who were impacted by Irene's powerful 50-70 mph winds. Residents felt the wrath of Irene, which left more than one million people without power in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and left the two states with damaged homes, empty refrigerators and a mountain of unexpected bills.   Downed trees and other wind damage could total about $5 billion in personal claims, according to the Consumer Federation of America. Now, residents want answers on how to regain some of the funds lost from renting hotel rooms, throwing out spoiled food and replacing their homes and boats. Some wanted those answers as early as Sunday morning according to Richard DiGiacomo …

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In The Wake of Irene, Consider Disaster-Based Volunteer Opportunities

Here are ways to get involved in future response and recovery efforts.

Hurricane Irene has passed, but many in our area are still working to clean up and get back on track. Here are some ways that you can get involved in helping now, and in future emergency situations: 1) ServeCorps Disaster Team: ServeRI, the state's hub for volunteer recruitment, has been organizing teams to assist with post-Irene cleanup. Call 401-331-2298 to see how you can still help. You can also consider becoming a member of the ServeCorps Disaster Team, a group of volunteers who are trained to help state and local municipalities in disaster preparation, response and recovery. Different levels of commitment are offered and no experience is required. For more information, please contact Serve Rhode Island: (401) 331-2298 ext. 112 or e-…

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PatchCast

Weekly PatchCast: Making the Most (Fun) of Irene

In the midst of last week's storm, some folks looked for ways to lighten up.

Follow these links for more on these stories: Warren Family Embraces Irene, Camps Out in Front Yard Residents Make the Most Out of a Power-less Situation Scampis, Anna D's Offer Free Food, Ice Cream After Irene Newport Soldiers On Through Irene Seekonk Youth Set Out to Document Hurricane Fury

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Quito's Restaurant Opens, Lobster Pot Dumps Food Inventory

Quito's Restaurant on Thames Street in Bristol will be open today, thanks to a large generator, but the Lobster Pot is going on day five with no power.

Downtown Bristol businesses are going on five days without power on Thursday, and seafood restaurants on the water have been forced to trash much of their food stock.  At Quito's Restaurant on Thames Street in Bristol, Kitchen Manager Robert Medeiros says the business has had to throw out a lot of food that went bad as a result of the power outages. "We had a small generator after the storm so we could keep some things cold," Medeiros said. "Before the storm we sold a lot of the food in the live wells and froze what we had left, but there was a lot of food we got rid of."   But on Thursday morning, Quito's got a special delivery — a large generator. "Now that we have this generator, we should be opening up at 11:30 this morning," Medeiros …

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