Politics & Government

Braintree Avoids Serious Hurricane Problems, School Busing Goes Smoothly

About 1,000 Braintree residents lost power on Monday but were restored by 10 p.m.

Even as it devastated New York City and large swaths of the East Coast, Hurricane Sandy brought relatively few problems to Braintree, which saw residents' power restored by Monday night and students in school on Tuesday morning.

During its peak on Monday, Sandy knocked out power to 350 Braintree homes and toppled several large trees. But most of the town saw little damage beyond small branches and extra leaves in the road, leading officials to open Braintree Public Schools on Tuesday, despite the pleas of many homework-averse students on Twitter.

"[M]aybe if the town of braintree makes sad tweets about the storm they will cancel school," Robbie McKenney tweeted.

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Added Julie Cavanaugh: "Braintree schools please cancel. please please please please."

Mike Coyne added that if Braintree cancelled school on Tuesday he would "donate $1 to the town."

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Braintree schools opened as scheduled, though, and by late morning the sun was shining and the air was dry.

"The busing went very smoothly," Superintendent Dr. Peter Kurzberg said in an email. "There were no problems."

Throughout the day on Monday, DPW personnel cleared the streets of debris, working until near midnight, Chief of Staff and Operations Peter Morin said. No one sought assistance at the temporary shelter at the Senior Center, he added.

"We knew what was coming, and it did pack a punch, but we were ready for it," Morin said. "We were fortunate because of its path."


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