Update, 5:00 p.m., January 28, 2015: MEMA officials are focusing on the coast. Some flew with the governor to Nantucket to assess the damage, according to spokesman Peter Judge.
Update, 1:00 p.m., January 28, 2015: Most shelters are closing, as power is back on it most homes. A high of 36,000 outages has fallen to just a few thousand. The National Guard is still assisting along the coast and MEMA is assessing the damage and deciding whether to ask the federal government for assistance.
Even though the snow has stopped falling, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency officials are working around the clock to make decisions with Gov. Charlie Baker about shelters, road clearing, National Guard deployment and public transportation. They do it all from a bunker, 40 feet below ground, in Framingham.
MEMA will assess damage over the next week or two to determine whether the state is eligible for federal assistance, according to spokesman Peter Judge.
"Sometimes when you’re watching it on TV, they show you a horrendous situation and you don’t know whether that’s it, or the whole seashore looks like that,” Judge said.
Judge and his staff are still monitoring hospitals, emergency services and coastal flooding. Representatives from the Massachusetts State Police, the National Guard, MassDOT, the Massachusetts Department of Public health and the Red Cross are still working in the bunker, Judge said, since roads still have to be cleaned and some people are still in shelters. Judge said Tuesday night about 500 people stayed in shelters around the state.
“I would expect during the day today, particularly when people get their power back, they’ll be going," he said. "The Largest number was on Nantucket, there were about 100 people at the high school. As you remember yesterday at one point the island of Nantucket lost all of their power.”
In addition to the structural damage, MEMA will have to deal with beach erosion issues.
"We’ve heard from folks from the [Cape Cod] National Seashore who have lost beach entrances and ladders and pathways as well as the actual beach sand,” Judge said.
Even though main roads are mostly clear, Judge says there’s a lot of work to be done on side streets, especially in cities, which are running out of places to put snow.
Inside the bunker, Judge said the transition from the Patrick administration to the Baker administration has been smooth.
“A lot of changes have occurred at the top, so to speak, but the folks in the room are boots-on-the-ground kind of people," he said. "They’ve fed their new bosses information and we’re getting great cooperation.”
