Resources, including helicopters and a search and rescue team, from Massachusetts were deployed to various states that were left crippled earlier this week by Sandy.
Two Blackhawk helicopters were sent to New Jersey and an urban search and rescue team was sent to Connecticut and New York, state officials said Wednesday. Also, a crew of seven Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency officials will lend a hand in Albany to help officials there address response and recovery efforts.
The help was sent as part of a request made through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. The deployment will last two weeks.
“Compared to other states like New York, Massachusetts was spared from the harshest impacts and devastation of Hurricane Sandy,” said Gov. Deval Patrick in a statement. “We have been fortunate and we want to assist other states in any way we can. These committed MEMA officials will strengthen New York’s recovery efforts.”
While Massachusetts only received a glancing blow from Sandy, hundreds of thousands were left without power and countless trees were toppled across the state. The number of homes and businesses without power is shrinking by the hour as crews continue to work nonstop repairing Sandy’s destruction.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, about 68,000 homes and businesses were still without power, according to NSTAR and National Grid. In Boston, that number was 462, while Cambridge had about 602 places without power and only a few dozen places were still dark in Somerville.
While Boston customers were expected to have their power back overnight Wednesday, residents and Cambridge and Somerville would likely spend Thursday in the dark as well as power companies estimated it wouldn’t be until Thursday night that power would be restored.
If you’re a National Grid customer you can click here to see when your town is expected to have power back. Click on “Outages by area” for restoration times.
If you’re an NSTAR customer you can click here to find out when you can start charging your Facebook and Twitter machines.
