Gov. Maura Healey has lifted the travel ban for the hardest-hit Bay State counties after the historic monster blizzard dumped up to three feet of snow.
The governor at noon on Tuesday ended the non-essential travel ban for Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable and Dukes counties.
Healey continued to urge residents to use caution and to stay home if possible to allow for crews to continue cleaning up amid the icy, snow-covered and slushy conditions.
A number of communities — including New Bedford, Fall River, Brockton and others — still have local travel restrictions and parking bans in place.
“While we are lifting the travel ban, the state of emergency remains in effect for some counties, and we urge people to continue using caution and stay home today if possible to allow crews to do their work,” Healey said in a statement. “Our teams continue to be out in full force to support cities and towns after this storm, providing equipment and personnel to help with snow removal and other efforts.
“We know that there are still many households without power, and the utilities are working hard to assess damage and restore power as quickly and safely as possible,” the governor added. “We thank the people of Massachusetts for their patience and caution while we work to get back to normal, and we are especially grateful for all of the workers who continue to be out here around the clock to deliver for our communities.”
As of 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, there were about 251,000 customers still without power, down from 290,000 on Monday. The remaining affected areas were the Cape and southeastern Massachusetts. Crews were working town-by-town to restore power and must first assess the damages before starting any repairs.
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency local coordinators were reaching out to every city and town in the eastern region to assess needs and deploy available resources.
MEMA has received more than 90 requests for assistance, mostly for Massachusetts National Guard support and public works and snow clearing equipment.
At the direction of Healey, MEMA requested out-of-state mutual aid to support snow removal operations. Snow removal crews and equipment from Vermont arrived Tuesday morning.
Healey has activated up to 350 members of the Massachusetts National Guard to support storm recovery operations.
MassDOT crews responded to the storm with about 3,000 pieces of equipment on statewide roadways. Equipment was redeployed Monday afternoon and evening to the South Coast to assist municipalities responding to extraordinary levels of snowfall.
Statewide storm cleanup will continue this week, as crews complete snow removal on interstate highways and secondary and local roads. Motorists should expect to see snow removal equipment on the roads and should allow for extra travel time. Motorists were encouraged to use caution, particularly at intersections, ramps, and shoulders.
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Scituate, MA – February 24 – A Linesman works on cutting a tree off electrical lines after a Blizzard moved through. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald).
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Scituate, MA – February 24 – A Linesman works on cutting a tree off electrical lines after a Blizzard moved through. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald).
