A house move down Bartlett Road on Thursday snarled traffic and knocked out power to roughly 700 households for most of the day.
The two story home travelled the length of Bartlett Road yesterday, with Warren Ard’s crew conducting the move, and utility crews from National Grid and Verizon on-hand to deal with power lines and cables along the way.
The initial power outage notice posted by National Grid Thursday morning indicated that 700 customers lost power around 10 a.m., and that service would be restored around noon. But that did not happen. Residents of the mid-island neighborhood reported power and internet service were out for most of the day, leading to frustration and criticism of the communication that occurred before and during the move.
“I don’t think it was communicated very well,” said Jillian Lucchini. “I think people were called, but a letter is still a good idea. It’s really causing a lot of work related issues for those who work from home. Had I known I would have planned my day differently.”
One island resident reported that her husband is on home oxygen, and when the power went out, she could not manage to start her generator, forcing her to call EMTs and have him taken to the hospital.
There was also confusion around the date of the move. Mid-island resident Allyson Bold shared the first notification she had received by phone from National Grid indicating the house move would happen on Wednesday, Jan. 5th, with a rain date set for Friday, Jan. 7th, and that neighboring residents “may experience a brief outage lasting approximately one hour.”
Yet the move did not happen on the original date or the rain date, but rather on the day in between, and the outage lasted far longer than originally projected by National Grid. Some residents reported they never even received the notice.
We will update this story as we learn more.
