As thousands of homes remained without power, Gov. Deval Patrick toured an emergency shelter at Dennis-Yarmouth High School Monday, where he met with local public safety officials, and offered words of support to people who were forced to leave their homes.
"There's a remarkable patience and grace among folks who are in many cases are just barely out of harm's way in the last little while," Patrick said. "I do understand that people will lose their patience after a time -- I see someone over there nodding his head. I think the utility companies have made great progress but they need to keep making great progress."
Patrick backed away from criticizing the utility companies, as they deal with the aftermath of Friday and Saturday's storm. But he said once this clean-up is done, utility companies should give serious consideration to burying power lines underground, where they're not vulnerable to falling trees.
"I think we're getting to a point," he said, "where it wold be very worthwhile for the utilities -- in my opinion --- to do some hard analysis about the value of burying utilities underground. It's a very expensive thing; I understand that, or I can imagine that. But when you consider that we are getting more of these storms, greater frequency, greater severity, I just wonder how that all fits in the balance."
Unlike the governor, Cape Cod Congressman Bill Keating criticized the way NStar is sharing information with the public during this storm. He said it's not good enough to say power should be restored by end of day Thursday. Instead, people need more specific, location-based information so they can make informed decisions.
"I talk to people … who are trying to talk to their parents into leaving their home, coming with them or going to their shelter," Keating said. "And the fact is, 'Oh, I'll tough it out for one more night.' If they knew it was three nights, they would make a different decision."
Hundreds of people stayed at the Dennis-Yarmouth shelter during the past three days. At it's peak Sunday and early Monday morning, the school sheltered about 300 people and about 100 volunteers. Cots fill the schools gymnasium, its cafeteria and three hallways.
Sandy Cashen is the schools' facilities manager. She's been at the shelter for three days said many of the people here come from elderly housing.
"It's been a very touching time for me," she said, "as I go through the corridors and see the elderly that are sitting here with no other family taking care of them except for us, the community, taking care of everybody. And the most touching time for me was last night was a husband and wife sitting in the corner with their cots, and him reading out of the bible a story. And it's s moving to see how family and community work together and stay together."
By Monday afternoon, some people at the shelter were hearing that electricity was being restored in many areas. But the Cape Cod's shelter system will remain open tonight. County Emergency Response planners are consolidating shelters and did close the shelter at Nauset High this afternoon. Officials ask anyone needing shelter to contact local emergency response officials at your local police or fire dept.