TUESDAY HURRICANE UPDATE: Ghiorse's Latest, Outages + More
GoLocalProv News Team
TUESDAY HURRICANE UPDATE: Ghiorse's Latest, Outages + More
John Ghiorse's update
What’s left of Sandy is weakening slowly and moving into Pennsylvania this morning. It will eventually make its way into Upstate New York, Northern New England and Canada. Thus we should see unsettled but somewhat improved weather over the next couple of days.
Look for scattered showers and considerably diminished wind today. There may be some minor coastal overwash at some locations around the time of high tide this morning but no repeat of yesterday’s major flooding.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Ghiorse Factor that was a solid zero yesterday will improve to the 4-5 range for today.
Outages
As of midnight, nearly 120,000 Rhode Islanders are without power, according to National Grid. For a real-time interactive map of all the power outages in the state, use GoLocal's Live Outage Map, here.
Here's the current breakdown of National Grid customer affected by outages, by county:
BRISTOL: 3,093
KENT: 15,437
NEWPORT: 29,788
PROVIDENCE: 17,544
WASHINGTON: 53,564
Services
RIPTA resumes majority of service for Tuesday
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) will resume the majority of normal service on Tuesday, October 30, 2012. Service to South County, Aquidneck Island and other low-lying areas may be delayed until RIPTA is able to further assess their ability to safely transport passengers. RIPTA strongly urges customers in these areas to monitor news and social media outlets for updates throughout the morning. Customers should expect delays or detours where flooding has occurred.
Route 14 (West Bay) and Route 66 (URI/Galilee) will begin their first trips from Salt Pond Plaza. Flex Service will resume with the exception of Route 203 (Narragansett Flex), Route 204 (Westerly Flex), and Route 210 (Kingston Flex). Flex in those areas will be suspended all day Tuesday, resuming service on Wednesday, October 31st. The Flex Service reservation line (1-877-906-FLEX) will be staffed on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.
Except for vital medical trips, the RIde Program will suspend services on Tuesday, October 30, 2012. The RIde Program will resume all service on Wednesday, October 31, 2012. The RIde reservation line (401-461-9760) will be staffed on Tuesday, October 30th.
RIPTA offices, including the Photo Identification and Ticket Sales Offices in Kennedy Plaza, will resume regular hours of operation on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.
Passengers should continue to monitor news reports, check www.RIPTA.com and RIPTA’s social media outlets for service advisory updates. Passengers can sign up for electronic News Updates at http://www.ripta.com/detours-
RIPTA customers can visit RIPTA’s website, www.ripta.com, or social media accounts (Facebook @RideRIPTA ,Twitter @RIPTA_RI), for updated service status updates and travel advisories. As soon as conditions allow following the storm, RIPTA will begin to restore full service as quickly as possible while protecting the safety of all involved.
Road closures
Flooding from Sandy has caused road closures in a variety of places throughout the state. According to the Rhode Island Department of Transportion, as of Monday night the following roads were closed due to flooding:
Sections of Route 103 in and around East Providence;
Route 108 in Galilee and roads near 108;
Route 138A in Newport.
For a map and updates on road closures due to flooding, go here. To contact RIDOT regarding downed limbs, washouts, or other roadway problems, call the R.I. Emergency Management Agency at any time at 401-462-7528 or 401-462-7529.
Closures
Most Rhode Island public schools will remain closed on Tuesday. Further, many cities and towns are maintaining their parking bans for Tuesday, and postponing trash pick-up. Check GoLocal's city-by-city list, here, for details.