Marlborough Comes Back to Life as Irene Clean-Up Continues

Less than 24 hours after Hurricane Irene made its way through Marlborough, city and state officials are scrambling to restore normality to the city.

Shortly after 10 a.m. Monday morning, met with Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, as well as officials from FEMA and MEMA to discuss a plan of action to restore power to the city, which as of Sunday evening was 75 percent in the dark. As of 12:30 p.m., the mayor was still working from the Emergency Operations Center at the .

The Marlborough Police log for the weekend revealed mostly public assistance and alarm calls, though there was one arrest for breaking and entering in the early a.m. hours of Sunday. (Check back with Marlborough Patch later today to read the log).

Businesses in the downtown district and East Main Street area, were still largely in the dark as of noon Monday, though several neighborhoods around Hosmer and Stevens streets had had power recently restored. This was an improvement from the by the City and National Grid.

"National Grid has reported a failure of a major transmission line into the city of Marlborough," said the release. "Roughly three-quarters of the city is affected by the power outage. National Grid has informed city officials that power may not be restored for an extended period. We are making every effort to expedite this process."

An official with National Grid spoke with Marlborough Patch early Monday afternoon, but would not give a specific time-frame.

"This storm has been very significant and right now we are focusing on damage assessment and restoring power to priority locations like hospitals, police and fire stations," said the official. "At this point we are hard-pressed to give a specific time-frame. We have 3500 employees in the field in New England, many of those in Massachusetts. Irene has been ridiculous and the has given us quite a wallop. What we are seeing in the field are broken poles, down trees and powers; there is a lot of damage out there. We will continue to work diligently."

The most recent information out of the Mayor's office offered recommendations for food safety for those without power.

"Yesterday's storm has resulted in a widespread power outage in Marlborough," said an email. "There are several things you can do to protect your cold/frozen food during a loss of power. ...We are working closely with National Grid to restore power to affected residents and businesses in Marlborough. We will update residents as information becomes available."

As of Monday a.m. there were several streets closed down to traffic due to downed power lines/clean-up efforts, including Lincoln at Grant Street. Post in the comments if you are aware of any others.

As of this post, the Marlborough Fire Department's deputy chief line was busy, and firefighters were seen responding to multiple calls, though none are believed to be extremely serious at this point.

A message was left with the as well. We will update this story when we hear back.

As of this post, one reader has told Marlborough Patch that the is still in the dark. Look for updated information on school closings later today.

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