2.26.2026 Storm Response Update

So, I guess um I'm Paul Kugan. I'm the mayor of the city of Fall River. I get to say the first thank yous and I want to make sure I don't leave anybody out.

Um National Guard led by a Fall River friend of mine, Brigadier General Lisa.

Our fire chief Jeff Bacon, EMS director, Beth F, our chief of police, Kelly Vatano, JT Hoy, Deputy Chief of Police, Joe [snorts] Billy Sutton, John I forget the last, Guliver, I think it is, but I those those aren't regulars with me. Uh, our governor, uh, Rick Aguiar, and of course, our lieutenant governor, Kim Driscoll. Um when we got hit with this snowstorm um on Sunday, we had anticipated 18 in.

We anticipated 18 in and we got double that and we were not ready and it was such a ferocious storm. It came in so hard with the wind and heavy heavy snow.

We really kind of got overrun. Our our drivers were out in white out conditions. They couldn't see the road.

They couldn't see the end of the truck.

We lost some time and the snow piled in and we were in a tough position. But through the help of DCM, now the National Guard, um the governor and lieutenant governor took a special interest in the city of Fall River. I consider them not they're not politicians. They're friends of our city. They come down here quite often and they always support us in our endeavors and they uh they sent

the Calvary in today. I was here at 7 this morning. I got to go to Bishop Connley. There was not a parking spot in the place. It was full of equipment from New York, Connecticut, trucks from Worcester, and now they're out on the streets making major headway and getting the city back on its feet. But it's through the efforts of our governor and lieutenant governor who probably have a

much more skilled team dealing with crisises than uh than the people in Fall River because we got hit with a real real big sucker punch. But they picked us up off the mat and they gave us the support we need. I really want to thank um from the police department though uh Kelly Fetado and JT last night.

They scoped out the entire city and gave us the streets that needed a targeted attack this morning and they've been going at it hot and heavy all day. So again, extra effort from a number of people that were able to make this attack successful and we're making headway. But I can't stress enough that we wouldn't have gotten off the dime with the help of Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. This

is her second time down in three days.

And uh I know Mora was chomping at the bit to get down here, but she was also getting pulled to other areas of the state. We're glad they're here today.

And I do want to introduce Governor Mora Healey, a friend of the city of For.

Thanks, Mayor. That's great. Well, good afternoon everyone. And uh and the mayor is absolutely right. I mean, this was a this was a big-time storm, not just here in the South Coast and in Fall River, but around the state and around the region. You know, when you look at some of the totals, I mean, southeastern Massachusetts got more snow, 30 plus inches in a 24hour period than ever

before in history. So, you know, that's just the facts. We also know we had hurricane force level winds, which contributed to zero visibility and white out conditions. this was really really rough and I know you know Monday Tuesday especially cold so you know that that was the situation um I I want to begin by just commending everybody at all levels you know it's all about teamwork

it's all about teamwork and this was a great display of of teamwork here and that will continue it will continue until every road is clear every resident is able to get to where they need to be um and all power is restored around the Commonwealth. So, we won't take our foot off the gas at all. Um, I want to acknowledge that uh there's been a lot of challenges throughout this for any

number of residents. My heart goes out to um the folks in Taton though. We had a separately we had a house gas explosion in Taton and my heart goes out to to the mother and child uh impacted, the victims there impacted and you know, my gratitude to the first responders and others on scene. But we pray for their uh for their recovery. And the state police and the uh state fire marshall's

office have been on the scene uh ever since to to to assist. Um so let me just point out a couple people here. Uh starting with well you know the lieutenant governor who was here. I was down at the Cape and and you were here and then Buck and we were trying to tag team this um the areas that were most uh most hard hit. I want to thank our uh under secretary of transportation and

highway administrator Jonathan Guliver in particular. You guys did an awesome job taking care of state roads and now you know we asked you to come in sort of SWAT team under Joe FOD's leadership to um assist local DPWs and the work that has been done with this unprecedented storm. But uh just really really so grateful to you Jonathan for the work of you and your team. Um our MIMA team has

been in touch. They were at the bunker starting I think Friday, sleeping there, staying there, getting things ready to be in coordination. When something like this happens, there is extensive communication and coordination between and among local and state agencies around the state. So, huge shout out to Don Brantley and the team at MIMA. Um, this was an unprecedented storm and, uh,

as a result, we did some unprecedented things. I activated the National Guard, uh, the first and finest here. We're proud of the Massachusetts National Guard. Um, we activated you all on sat on Sunday and uh, you know, we've had hundreds of people out. Thank you guys so much for what you're doing here in the south coast and around the state. We set up an incident command. We haven't

done this before. We literally set up an incident command um, in different places, Fall River, Brockton, to specifically work with local officials on getting the snow cleared and getting people uh, out and about. Um, Mass Department of Transportation has surged resources to the city and region. Um, with Jonathan's work and leadership, we have been able to meet all requests for salt and equipment u around the state.

We've got 40 communities that have equipment from the state um deployed right now, including right now. Today, we have 211 pieces of equipment deployed. Um, we're talking about loaders and dump trucks and plows and skid steers. For those of you at home, a skid steer is like a bobcat, but you really need those to get the snow off the sidewalk. And um, especially this hard pack hard pack that's out there.

Um, we've got our brine plant in full operation. The state has a brine plant.

You know, it's it's put mixing [clears throat] up all that salt and other stuff so that we get that on the the the roads and elsewhere to help um to help deise. And we're deploying tankers everywhere to put that liquid brine down to uh to help with the break up there. In terms of our biggest deployments right now, Fall River 71 pieces of equipment, 10 more are coming.

New Bedford's got about 40 pieces with 10 more coming. Brockton's got about 24 pieces of equipment. I think conditions are improving in each community in Brockton uh and in Fall River. Um we also activated you know the charge from us was let's get out let's utilize every state resource that we've got. So we had DCR you know make their plows and their uh skid steers available their equipment. I mentioned the National

Guard who has done everything from running snowblowers to shoveling to transporting people who needed to be taken out of their homes who lost power.

um transporting medical and shelter staff, too, because thank you not only to the first responders, but the health care professionals, people who needed to continue to work um throughout all of this, and the Guard was very helpful with that transport. I also want to give a shout out to my New England um and Northeast uh governors. I really want to thank the great states of New York and Vermont and Connecticut. Um

Massachusetts would come through and has come through in the past for all of you, and boy, you guys came through for all of us. So to governors Hokll, governors uh Scott and Lamont, I just really thank you because we got a lot of equipment um from um Vermont, New York and and Connecticut. Also to Eversource and the utilities, they did their work. They really did. I know it's frustrating as

hell to be without power, but know that Eversource National Grid had teams from as far away as Canada on the ground over the weekend before snow even hit. And I told you guys before, part of the issue with this is they can't restore power until the winds died down to less than 35 miles an hour to get up in those bucket trucks, right? And also the snow needed to be cleared. But they have been

getting after it, as you can see, um, intensively over the last 72 hours. And on Tuesday, right, after the storm, we had n 290,000 power outages. Right now, we're down to about 58,000. and they're just going to continue to bang out that work um aggressively uh today and and for as long as it takes. I also want to thank folks in warming shelters statewide, we had nine open shelters. We

had a 4 420 occupants as of last night.

Um we also had in addition to the o the the shelters I tooured a few on the Cape uh the other day, we had warming centers set up. So again, I want to thank all the volunteers and people staffing those places. And I want to help uh excuse me.

I want to thank the neighbors, you know, people who were out checking on one another. Uh making sure that that that people had food, that they had their medication. Um you know, it's been amazing to see what's happened. Uh I saw a phone app that was created by a resident um showing which streets were clear and uh great great teamwork here in in in Fall River. In terms of um a couple updates, state of emergency does

remain in effect for all counties except Birkshire Hampton Hampshire and Franklin. The commuter rail is uh back to regular service. So the New Bedford Fall River line commuter rail back to regular service as of today and the entire MBTA is back to regular service.

I mentioned the power outages. Um those 58,000 of course are are concentrated mainly on the Cape at this point.

encourage the public um to continue to follow local guidance, guidance from us at the state level. Please call 211 if you need anything. Um and uh we'll do everything we can and I know that our local uh officials will as well to get folks what they need, but I really hope we see the remaining power outages clear um very soon and then, you know, get the rest of the snow uh out from these

communities. Um, I think that's it in terms of updates and I'd now like to turn it over to um Joe FOD. Joe is a veteran at the Mass Department of Transportation and under the direction of uh uh of Under Secretary Guliver was uh asked to come down and run this incident command here on the south coast. So Joe, appreciate everything that you're doing.

Thank you, Governor. I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Um, just to reiterate what the mayor and and governor said, this was an unprecedented storm for this area. We're used to this, you know, in the western part of the state, central part of the state, but for this area here, you know, we're not used to it. So, um, we were fortunate enough to be able to get, um, the rest of the state clean in terms of state

roads in this area as well. So, um, when we were asked to come out here and help, uh, we were able to, uh, you know, move a lot of our equipment from different areas of the state. That's our own equipment, that's state equipment, and that's other state agency equipment and contractors. So, um, you know, first off, I like to thank all them because I may be here representing them, but

they're the ones who are out there 24 hours a day doing the work. Um, I'm just, you know, I'm just coordinating it. Um, again, the partnership that we've had with all the municipalities, um, and with other state agency has been unprecedented and it's been really, uh, great to watch. Uh I'm the one thing I'm proud to say is uh the progress we've made over the last 24 hours has been really really great. Um

fortunate today we have some nice weather. So we got some melt uh because the hard pack would have been hard to move much harder today. So um with with the weather we've had today, we've we've really done a got a lot of progress and put a big dent in what's going on. So, it's our pleasure to help and uh certainly under the guidance of of the the governor, lieutenant governor and uh

secretary and uh under secretary, you know, we're here for as long it takes to get this done. Um we're not going to abandon you and we're going to make sure that we get your roads open so you guys can get around and move around. So, thank you.

Thanks, Joe. Appreciate it.

You want to mention some of the smaller communities that you've been working? I know we're here in Fall River, New Bedford, Brockton, but we're helping every level.

Oh, yeah. We've been all over the place.

We've been in uh Fair Haven. um um you know uh New Bedford uh um again just all over the place. The the the two that we keep mentioning is because those are the two that were hardest hit in terms of um having uh a lot of roads that are still blocked. Um but uh we like the governor said we have over 200 pieces of equipment. We have over 400 people working. Uh they're they're switching

off and on to make sure that this is a 247 operation. You know, no piece of equipment has been put to rest until this is over. So appreciate it.

Thanks, Joe. John, do you have anything you want to add?

I'll I'll just add, you know, Joe and the governor just alluded to this. We've made tremendous progress in the last 24 hours with our with our municipal partners and and especially with that extra equipment coming in from out of state has really enabled us to put a huge dent in things. And right now with there's a number of those communities, not everywhere, but a number of them

we're shifting from emergency operations into general cleanup, which is exactly where we want to be with every place.

And uh I expect that uh sometime in the next uh 24 to 48 hours we'll be able to do that everywhere. Uh again everybody's as Joe said we we we are working right now uh in two 12-h hour shifts to make sure the job gets done. Uh and there's more work to do but it's it's it's again this is a this is just an unprecedented event requires an unprecedented uh approach and that that's what we're

doing right now. We're looking forward to getting done here.

Governor, thank you. Obviously, [snorts] you've had eyeballs across the state. Would you consider fall uh Fall River really ground zero for this storm where we're at right now?

I think South Coast and Cape were ground zero for this. And shout out to, you know, our friends in Rhode Island. Uh love you guys. And you know, I know Governor McKe is dealing with I mean Providence saw this unprecedented record snowfall. So, you know, this whole region I think was was ground zero um for the storm. And certainly, you know, that's why we as a state tried to deploy assets early and continue to to

uh to surge there with resources, state resources as well as resources from other states.

Governor, one of your predecessors, Michael Dukak, is probably the only comparison to this. Was it the timing of the storm that it was such a 24-hour spot where that much snow dumped in this region?

Yeah. Um, I don't have my best or my sweater, I should say. Um, but I will tell you, you know, look, talk to the talk to the pros and the meteorologists, you know, at your stations. I think they'll tell you that this was not dissimilar to 78. And um, because of the hurricane force winds and because of the amount of snow that fell over the course of, you know, 24 hours, 36 hours in some

instances because we were still seeing some snow in places, you know, even even yesterday morning. So, um I think those things made it um made it really really intense and you know it a storm that we just have not seen and I think the analogy uh the more I've read and learned um cuz I was a little kid then in 78 uh the more I've read that's a that's a really fair comparison the

blizzard of 78 um it was really really tough out there and u you know I'm I'm grateful that the tides fell the way they did you know because that that lessened what we saw In terms of some erosion and flooding, we did see some, but um thank God at least the tides were were were were not hitting at the at the height.

Was it learn biggest takeaway from the storm? Learning lesson.

No, I think it's just an affirmation of what we did. I mean, look, it the you got to you got to get resources in. You got to get them there early and you got to be willing to use all parts of of government and the apparatus. And I think that's what people look to government to do. It's at moments like this when government needs to show up and government needs to work. And that's

what I saw, you know, from the Massachusetts State Police who, you know, are helping get cars off the road literally because people, by the way, thank you. Most people actually abided our um our uh call to stay off the roads. That helped a lot. But some people did need to be out. Cars went off the roads. Massachusetts State Police was there to clear along with the Department of Transportation. Um, the

National Guard helped with that. The work that uh went on to get people. I mean, I heard stories of a police officer on the Cape. I mean, he he got an older woman out of her home with two dogs and three cats and got her to a shelter, you know, and had to walk through snow and carry them to be able to get them out because you guys saw the

debris and the storm. I mean, the snow was so great. And so, um, to me, you know, it's about, uh, I I think the the the the message, I guess, here is, you know, the the importance of teamwork, utilizing all the assets, um, including those of other states. Um, we were talking to the utilities last week about this and making sure that they were out there with crews. Um, they had a couple

thousand crews from as far away as Canada, so, you know, they were they were staged and and and in place. That was important. Um, and um, I just think a general willingness to do whatever needed doing and be wherever you need to be. We're not out of this yet. I mean, I a lot of kids are in school today, uh, which is which is great for them and great for parents, but there are kids

who are not in school today, which is really tough for parents and families in in those districts. So, you know, that's why we're working around the clock two, you know, 12-hour shifts to just help communities clear and get back to uh to business as usual. Governor Healey. So, uh, we put out Kevin Andra, New Bedford Light. We put out a survey yesterday and over a thousand people were telling us

in the New Bethford area that their streets had still not been plowed.

Municipal authorities said that they had reached out to the National Guard to get some help. We have not seen the National Guard yet. Uh so I just wanted to know a did New Bedford in New Bedford did New Bedford receive uh the requested the aid that they have requested and will there be a guard deployment to New Bedford?

Yeah. Why don't you you were on the ground both of you so you want to address that?

I I can tell you yes we we have equipment uh everywhere right now and uh New Bedford uh had one of our bigger deployments. I think that the second largest deployment that we had going over the last couple of uh couple of days. I think we had uh if I recall correctly 40 pieces of equipment there.

Um and I could be wrong.

Five pieces around 40 more coming.

Yeah. 40 with 10 more coming. So there'll be 50 by the end of the day.

And uh again this is where we are now not just uh in in New Bedford and Fall River and elsewhere. But any place that has snow on the ground uh what we have run into over the last couple of days with those cold temperatures that dropped uh overnight and with a little bit of melting that goes into that that snow is no longer something that you can just plow easily. There's some areas

that we still can that it's movable, but [clears throat] it's we have to bring in specialized equipment to actually remove that snow. It's a removal process now, not a plowing process in most cases. So, that that does take some time. Uh, you know, we again, the lieutenant governor and I were were in uh New Bedford just a couple of days ago. uh that that team there is doing a great job uh opening up

those streets and uh you know we we are continuing to do that across this whole region prioritizing first and foremost those uh routes that are necessary for emergency services and then really working our way into those neighborhoods and elsewhere that need to get opened up. So we're we're we really appreciate everybody's patience. We know this is frustrating especially if you're

currently snowed in. We we are working with our [clears throat] municipal partners as hard as we can to get to you and to open those streets up. And again, I'm I'm really hopeful that everywhere across this region, we will be uh at least getting to passable roadways sometime in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Hopefully, I'm I'm being generous with that estimate. It's a lot sooner than that.

Yeah. And I think you were there Tuesday, so right after the storm, right? I mean, there were we had five pieces of equipment helping out there, but the guard I don't I don't know when we saw the guard there.

I don't um you know, we're deploying the guard as needed. New New Bedford actually did a really great job in terms of getting their main drags open. We're five pieces of equipment there. They got a strong team both taking in requests and trying to get to them. So, it's sort of like putting the right piece of apparatus in the right place. Their side streets can take a little bit wider

equipment and that's why we had five pieces of apparatus out there right away. Joe, do you want to say anything else about New Bedford? Just Yeah. No, I mean we we we deployed vehicles uh equipment there as of uh first thing Tuesday morning. Um so, and uh you know, we're checking with them on a regular basis. We have uh people on the ground there as well who are making sure that it's being addressed.

[clears throat] Um, so I I in my opinion, I think, you know, we we have sufficient equipment there. Naturally, we'd like more and what we'll do is we'll look at when we start looking at other uh communities that we can free up equipment where we certainly going to look at other communities that need it and start, you know, transferring it to to locations as well.

And like just to be clear, there were definitely side streets that were completely covered and not had a plow like there are here in Fall River. So much snow at some point some of the vehicles had to come off the road and it makes it hard to catch up. So I I don't I certainly want folks to understand we're aware it was it was bad in New Bedford too and uh we that's why we're

deploying so many assets everywhere for Governor Daily um Alex Lesley from channel 12 in Rhode Island Rhode Island saw two u deaths related to the blizzard one being carbon monoxide related unfortunately I think the other one was potentially shuffling related. Um, has your office been aware been made aware of any uh deaths related to the blizzard?

Um, I don't I I don't Well, there was one fatality on the highway Monday evening, I believe. Um, that was on the Pike and someone was out of their car and was struck uh by a tractor trailer. Apart from that um I mentioned the uh very sad uh explosion in Taon. I don't know how whether that's tied to this per se or not. Um, but these are the things that

we, you know, we talk about and with with the start of any storm, you know, we ask people to get out, check your check your detectors, carbon monoxide, clear the vents, you know, um, we warn about shoveling because we know that that can lead to cardiac issues. I was in Cape Cod Hospital Tuesday. Um, that place was full. Um and uh you know again thank you to all the health care professionals and first responders who

are out there helping people. But um you know one of the reasons we were really really focused on supporting and getting those warming shelters and warming centers open and um am grateful for the work of the teams to get people out who needed to be moved is we didn't want anybody um stuck in their home freezing uh and freezing to death. that was really really you know job one in terms

of public safety. So I I thank everybody in Massachusetts who worked hard to take care of that.

Last question if there is any uh I do have a question. So um obviously as you said this was an unprecedented situation but moving forward are you hoping to see more from cities and towns on maybe a plan or something moving forward? you know, our cities and towns work hard, you know, and our city and town officials work really hard. And um obviously as a state, you know, and as

governor, I want to do everything that I can to support our cities and towns and our local governments. And this is an example of when that support is needed because, you know, you're seeing something, you're hit with something that, you know, you haven't seen before.

Um and uh you know, municipal budgets are what they are when it comes to buying equipment and staffing and all that. So, you know, we're we're sensitive to that.

And to me, it's not about the blame game, you know, um or would a could a shoulda. I think that, you know, we all work together on this and and we will continue to be out there to support our our cities and towns and um you know, people have done across the Commonwealth really remarkable work. I also want to thank our uh cities and towns out in the western part of the state because, you

know, they got a little less snow, so we swung a lot of resources from there to uh to this region. And uh I know if something happened out there, this region would be the first to send resources out to the west. I I just have one quick for the mayor.

Mayor, one one question, please.

What is the uh what's the status of um the fast team and our homeless in Fall River? Are they still being serviced?

Are they still Yeah, they're still in the shelter today. Um they'll be there tonight.

We'll we'll obviously, as we do every day on our uh fast team and our homeless, we'll monitor the weather. Um, and I went by there on the way here.

They were all outside. It's a beautiful day. Let's say we get back to normal as fast as we can.

Thanks everyone.

Thanks everybody.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. And your head.