We lost our power during the early morning hours of January 8th. For several days and nights all we could hear was the sound of cracking and crashing trees. It was scary and really quite eerie. Charlie went to work at Audette's hardware store that first day. The store had no power, and they used flashlights and hand calculators. He said the customers were four deep at the checkout all day and they sold out of anything that could be used in place of power.
I did not dare to venture out of the house that first day as I was sure I needed at least a hard-hat, and maybe a tank! One tree crashed right beside our cellar door and shook the foundation of the house like an earthquake. At this point the telephone was still working and friends at the far end of our road called several times to see if the road was passable. I watched trees come down and block the road beside our house three different times during the day. People were traveling with saws in their cars and some one always came along and cleared the road. The whole town of Winthrop was without power except for a small part of Main St. which included the Methodist Church.
On Friday, the 9th (Day 2) I was like a caged lion! Charlie had gone to work - and I was alone again - so I decided to take a chance and drive up Narrows Ponds Road. I figured if Charlie got to work then the road must be passable. I prayed all the way as I drove under power lines, uprooted trees, hanging branches, etc. I could not believe the devastation! It resembled pictures I had seen of battle
As if that wasn't bad enough, sometime during the night a large trailer truck was entering Carlton Woolen Mills on Route 202, snagged a wire and brought down 5 electric poles. So they had to take electric crews away from their emergency work to fix that. That part of Rt. 202 was closed and all traffic rerouted down Main St. in Winthrop. It was slow going around Winthrop for a day and a half while they fixed that mess.
The next day (Day 3) another tree came crashing down on the bedroom end of the house and took out the telephone and cable. Then I really felt isolated. Sirens could be heard every once in a while and it made me so nervous to think we did not have a telephone in case of fire or emergency. That night we drove next door (couldn't walk) to see if our neighbors had phone service. We found a terrible mess in their driveway and could hardly make our way in. They, too, did not have a working telephone.
I started sleeping in the living room on the second night as the trees seemed to be falling on the bedroom end of the house. It didn't bother Charlie, though he stayed in our bed!
We did have a generator which Charlie ran morning and night. So on Saturday night we had two other couples in for a candlelight dinner and then we played dominos afterward. We had never used our generator in the winter before and found that we could only run one appliance at a time. At this point it was kind of fun!
The Youth Group at the Methodist Church together with their leaders (Charlie & Kristine Longstaff) started serving free meals on Saturday (Day 3) to anyone who walked in. The volunteers in the kitchen increased and 2 meals a day were served at the Church for the next 10 days.
I volunteered at the Red Cross Shelter which was set up at Winthrop High School. This is an experience I shall never forget! I started out as coordinator of volunteers. Since my place of operation was right close to the coffee pots, it became my job to be sure they did not run out of coffee. Making the coffee was just short of a full-time job!! As each day passed, we all did whatever needed to be done at the time. One day another woman and I did quantity cooking for lunch! If I was short of volunteers at the Shelter, I knew I could phone the Church and they always sent someone to help. God was certainly at work in the Church, the Shelter and the Community!
There were several families with chiIdren, together with many elderly folks staying at the shelter. Three meals a day were served to them and when we got a lead on someone needing food in their home, that was taken care of also. I can't say enough good about the teenagers who volunteered at the Shelter. They would play games and talk with the older people, most of whom live alone. These people found they had a wonderful time because others were taking care of them and giving them attention. Many did not want to leave when the Shelter shut down. The teenagers also kept the younger children occupied playing basketball, games and other activities. I got attached to so many people while working at the Shelter.
On Tuesday (Day 6) the National Red Cross moved in with mobile units from Pennsylvania. At that point they opened up the Middle School for cooking and between meals at the Shelter and meals for the mobile units they served between 900 and 950 meals a day. The mobile units went out to 6 other surrounding towns sometimes dropping meals at a fire station and mostly down camp roads and back roads to deliver meals to those who either could not leave their homes or did not want to. They would drop one hot meal and one cold meal and people would beg them to come back the next day. They were most appreciative.
One day (can't remember which), the Chief of Police sent word to the Shelter that he needed volunteers to go door-to-door checking on people. I spent that day on the phone asking people to meet at the Fire Station at 6 PM, and to be sure they had warm clothes and good footwear as the temperatures had dropped to the low teens and there was ice everywhere. They had a large turnout and found all kinds of conditions. In most cases people did not want to leave their homes.
Charlie divided his time between the Shelter and the Church (when he wasn't working at Audette's), and after a while we got on a schedule where we would meet for lunch at the Shelter and for supper at the Church! In between we took showers and did laundry at friends homes who live closer to the center of town. They were without power for 5 days - we for 13! It was a real social time at the Church at suppertime with singing, dancing, conversation, etc. People would linger where it was warm rather than go home to a cold dark house.
We all worked very hard and it was overwhelming to see how people pulled together and volunteered to do all kinds of things. I have always known that the people of Winthrop are caring, wonderful people, and this experience just confirmed that! I am proud to be a member of the Winthrop United Methodist Church and a resident of the Town of Winthrop!
We finally got our power back after 13 days!