Gov. Deval L. Patrick declared a state of emergency, mobilized the National Guard and told state workers to stay home Monday.
Schools across Western Massachusetts were canceled, extra utility crews started arriving and Department of Public Works officials began working overtime to prepare for heavy rains and possible flooding from Hurricane Sandy, Sunday.
As the monster storm barreled up the coastline Sunday night, evacuations were ordered in low-lying coastal regions, airlines canceled flights, Amtrack stopped train service, cities closed subways, some area stations reported shortages of regular gasonline, and federal workers were told not to report to work in Washington D.C.
The hurricane, already blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean, was expected to come ashore late Monday or early today in New Jersey and move west joining up with cold air streaming down from the arctic and cause widespread problems including coastal surges in the eastern areas and heavy snow in Pennsylvania.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick declared a state of emergency Saturday and mobilized the National Guard. On Sunday he expanded it, telling non-emergency state workers to stay home Monday.
Although forecasts show Western Massachusetts should be saved from the brunt of the storm, city officials were taking no chances.
“We are planning for the worst but expecting the best,” Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse said.
In Holyoke, City Hall is closed today, school was canceled and even trick-or-treating was moved to Saturday in case the storm downed wires and tree limbs and made it too dangerous for children to go out in the dark Wednesday.
“We ask residents to look out for neighbors and make sure everyone is safe,” Morse said.
Officials from communities across Western Massachusetts continued to say they did not expect the widespread flooding the region saw during last August’s Tropical Storm Irene or the massive damage saw during the June 1, 2011 tornado, but want to be prepared.
Off-and-showers sprinkled Western Massachusetts Sunday afternoon but the rain and wind is expected to pick up by mid-day Monday, said Mike Skurko, meteorologist with CBS 3, media partner of The Republican and MassLive.com.
Locally Western Massachusetts is expecting two or three inches of rain between late Sunday and Tuesday afternoon. There will be areas which will could get up to four or five inches of rain so residents should be prepared for localized flooding especially in problem spots such as underpasses, Skurko said.
“To put this into perspective, when we had Tropical Storm Irene (in Aug. 2011) the majority of problems were flooding. The majority of the problems this time will be wind damage,” Skurko said.
Residents should expect sustained winds between 30 and 40 miles an hour beginning Monday afternoon and there will be gusts of 50 to 60 miles an hour.
The peak of the storm should run from about 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday. That is when the heaviest rain will fall and the winds should be at their strongest, Skurko said.
Dozens of cancellations started coming in Sunday for everything from Historic Deerfield to some Peter Pan bus routes.
Because of possible electrical outages and concerns about getting children home, dozens of school districts across Western Massachusetts canceled classes for Monday.
“The worst part in the afternoon and we decided that would be dangerous for kids either walking home or taking the bus,” said Robert Hassett, the Springfield Fire Department’s Office of Emergency Preparedness Director.
School districts across the region including Palmer, Ludlow, Wilbraham, Chicopee, Northampton and Agawam canceled classes. Westfield State University, Springfield Technical Community College, Holyoke Community College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst also closed Monday.
Officials at Westover Air Reserve Base decided Sunday afternoon to fly most of its fleet of C-5 Galaxy jets to MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., because of concerns that the high winds could damage the aircraft. Two planes will remain on base, Lt. Col. James Bishop, chief of public affairs for the base, said.
The base is also being used as a staging area for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 77 trucks full of supplies arrived Sunday, ready to be driven to anywhere in New England were assistance is needed, he said.
When asked what the biggest concern is from this storm, Hassett said: “Power outages.”
Still reeling from the massive power outages from the October snowstorm that hit exactly a year ago and left some without electricity for more than a week, power companies said they are taking extra precautions this time.
The one problem is in high winds, it may be dangerous for crews to be up in bucket trucks so making repairs could be delayed until the winds die down, Hassett said.
James M. Lavelle, manager of the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department, said crews have been trimming back tree limbs since last year’s storm and hopes that work may prevent widespread outages.
“We have our full compliment our line workers and we contracted with outside workers,” Lavelle said. Those workers will arrive on Tuesday if they are needed.
Northeast Utilities and Western Massachusetts Electric Company had workers arrive Sunday and early today from Oklahoma, Indiana and Michigan and will have a work force four times their usual size to handle any power outages. If the damage is not as severe, those crews will be sent to other locations where they are needed, said Priscilla Ress, spokeswoman for Western Massachusetts Electric.
That company has been very aggressive in removing tree limbs and other vegetation from the power lines, investing more than $1 million in the efforts so officials are hoping it pays off, Ress said.
National Grid is following suit and called in more people to supplement its work force.
“We have extra crews coming from across the country to help and they are all arriving no later than today,” Charlotte McCormack, a National Grid spokeswoman said Sunday.
Springfield started coordinating with Western Massachusetts Electric as soon as the storm was first predicted. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said he is confident the company will handle widespread outages quickly.
“Everyone will be ready and we will get through this. We have a great team on the field,” Sarno said.
The city has been coordinating with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, which opened the center at 9 a.m. Sunday to begin preparing to help cities and towns respond to the storm.
Flooding also continues to be a concern and officials in town-after-town asked residents to please help out and clear any storm drains near their homes of fallen leaves.
In Holyoke, highway crews and those from United Waste will be patrolling to fix any problems with localized flooding and downed trees and limbs, said William Fuqua, Department of Public Works superintendent.
Residents can call the mayor’s office at 536-9300 to report things like downed limbs. Officials in all communities however told residents to call 911 if they see downed wires, since they could be live and dangerous.
Motorists were also warned not to drive through flooding, since they will not know if the road below is intact.
Hassett put off announcing if Springfield would be opening shelters, saying city officials would wait and see if it was necessary.
Morse said the Holyoke War Memorial Building on Maple Street would be used as a shelter if necessary, but was not being open immediately.
Northampton officials opted not to put off making a decision. Mayor David Narkewicz sent out emails, twitter messages and phone calls to residents announcing a regional shelter will be open at Smith Vocational High School starting at 11 p.m. Sunday.
“The primary impacts of the storm on Northampton are expected to be a heavy rain and a 12-18 hour period of sustained heavy winds beginning at midday Monday,” he said.
Many city mayors are communicating in a variety of ways including posting messages on Facebook pages, sending out recorded phone messages and through city websites.
Holyoke kicked off its new emergency notification system, Everbridge, early because of the storm. The system, which is already used by a number of area communities, allows people to get messages through email, Twitter, through cell phones and landlines.