1 dead, flooding in Irene’s wake

Branches lay on the grass at the Boston Common yesterday after Irene left trees and power lines down across Massachusetts.

While residents of Greater Boston started yesterday morning with relief and wonderment of Hurricane Irene’s lackluster impact here, it was a much different Monday for residents of Western Massachusetts.

Richard Gorgone, 52, a Southbridge town worker was electrocuted as he left his home yesterday morning while touching a railing that a downed power line had come into contact with, state officials said.

Also, dozens of roads remained closed and nearly 500,000 people were still without power.

“There’s a lot of work here to do in clearing trees, clearing limbs and getting power restored so we ask for people to be patient and to be cautious as well,” Gov. Deval Patrick said from the state’s emergency management bunker in Framingham.

Most of the homes and businesses without power were expected to have electricity back by today.
Although the worst of the devastation was located in the western part of the state, there were issues in Greater Boston.

Thousands in Boston woke up without power yesterday and debris in the Boston Common and Public Garden was still being cleaned up. There was enough debris that officials closed Frog Pond yesterday.

In Marshfield, police said a person was found dead Sunday, possibly as a result of the storm knocking out power. However, no further information was available.