A lucky turn for county, but many trees took a beating

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2012 at 6:00 AMOct 30, 2012 at 9:05 AM

By George Barnes TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Falling branches, road flooding, downed power lines and strong wind — driving rain sideways at times — had emergency services scrambling yesterday to keep ahead of Hurricane Sandy, which landed on New England more as a bad fall storm than a major disaster.

The storm was not a replay of Hurricane Irene, which battered the area in late August 2011, or last year’s Halloween snowstorm, which left many people without power for weeks. It did cause problems for residents throughout Central Massachusetts. With wind gusts close to 60 miles per hour, trees and limbs fell, damaging homes and vehicles, blocking roads and causingcan prepare for a normal workday” today, Mr. Patrick said. He said he is cautiously optimistic that commuter rail and MBTA service will be ready by commuting time this morning.

State government offices will be delayed in opening until 10 a.m. today, he said, and he hopes that private businesses will be flexible as well — especially if their employees are coming from the South Coast or Cape Ann.

Schools and many businesses throughout Worcester County were closed yesterday, and Worcester public schools will be closed today, along with many other school districts around the county, because of power outages and in anticipation of continuing bad weather.

In Mendon, a tree fell on a vehicle at 140 Cape Road at 1 p.m., injuring the driver, who was taken to a local