Attleboro Mayor Calls Governor Patrick to Get Answers

Electrical line and equipment that feeds power to six substations that are central to providing power to the Attleboro and the severity of Hurricane Irene are to blame for the 13,437 of its 19,299 customers in Attleboro without power (as of Aug. 30 at 3 p.m.), according to National Grid spokesperson, Debra Drew. 

"There is significant impact to the Attleboro area," Drew said. "It is indicative of the severity of the storm that came through."

National Grid could not provide any detailed information on how long it would take to restore power to Attleboro customers, but the company has provided residents with a restoration chart, which has the city fully restored by September 4. 

"What I can tell you is we have workers working hard to get power restored and restoration to the last of the customers could last until the weekend."

According to published reports, Attleboro Mayor Kevin Dumas said National Grid had not been responsive to the City of Attleboro until Tuesday morning and because of that the city's "hands have been tied."

The company, however, said a National Grid employee has been working with the City of Attleboro from the beginning. In fact, the company said a National Grid representative was present at the Emergency Operation Center at the  since 2 p.m. Monday. 

Attleboro Emergency Management Agency Director Scott Lachance said not all of what National Grid is saying is true. Lachance said National Grid has not been in communication with the city since the beginning. 

"The lack of communication from them is an absolute fact," Lachance said of National Grid. "We did get a representative here until late yesterday afternoon, but that was only after pressure from Mayor Dumas.

"He even spoke to the Governor's Office and Department of Public Utilities Commission," Lachance said about Mayor Dumas. 

"We would report things and call them, but did not receive accurate information back," Lachance said. "We never received information about how extensive the power outage has been or damages. 

"We were only told that before midnight (Monday) about how extensive the damage was," Lachance said of the damaged equipment and lines that feed power to the city. 

Thousands of National Grid workers are on the ground trying to restore power to Attleboro residents and the rest of the state, according to Drew. At the height of the storm there were more than 500,000 outages in the state. Today there are 160,000.