Much of Plymouth Still Without Power

An English family was planning to spend a weekend enjoying the sun, sand and history in Plymouth, but instead wound up spending Sunday at the emergency shelter at .

Director Aaron Wallace said the family of five had planned to drive up from New York City Friday night and holiday in Plymouth, but that changed quickly as Hurricane, and later Tropical Storm, Irene, followed the family north.

"They drove up from New York for a better view of the storm," Wallace joked. "We started speaking with them Friday and followed their trek from New York...They were afraid that their rental would be flooded so they came down to the shelter," he said seriously.

In total only six people used the shelter, which opened at 8 a.m. Sunday morning and closed at 8 p.m. Sunday night.

Flooding was not a major issue in Plymouth, unlike other coastal towns around New Bedford and Marion, which saw some flooding in low-lying areas.

"Even with the astronomical high tides, the surge was almost minimal," Wallace said.

Sunday had a new moon, which creates the highest tides of the month normally, when a storm comes up the coast, the high tide often comes with a storm surge, which can cause major damage, as seen in the last December.

The major damage was caused by the wind, with gusts of more than 65-miles-per-hour, much higher than a normal blustery day in Plymouth.

Wallace and his crew toured the town last night to see what kind of damage the town had to deal with. The gusty wind knocked down large, older trees, which in turn, knocked down power lines. NStar crews are dealing with widespread damage to its system and has more than 200,000 customers state-wide without power, more than half on the South Shore, New Bedford area and Cape Cod.

It could be days before everyone has power again, according to an NStar press release. NStar officials do not plan on having town-by-town information for some time.

In Plymouth, the availability of electricity seems to be on a neighborhood and sometimes even street-by-street basis. The Pinehills was without power last night and many area residents are still without power. Most of Cedarville had power, but South Plymouth was not as lucky.

In West Plymouth, the assisted living centers, , the and all had power from the street.

"North Plymouth wasn't rosy," Wallace continued. Most of Manomet was also without power, but "a few streets near Pilgrim had power so there was some light in Manomet last night."

Town Hall is operating on a generator, two or three fire stations are still on emergency power today, Wallace said. The water and sewer pumping stations are also on emergency power and are "coming up slowly," he added.

NStar, DPW and state Highway crews have managed to clear the main roads through town last night, but many secondary streets are still blocked by fallen trees and downed wires. Wallace said NStar crews are still dealing with downed wires and as soon as the wires are repaired in one area, state and local cleanup crews get to work.

weathered the storm without any problems, spokesman Carol Wightman said.

"We opeated at 100 percent throughout the storm," she said. "We have our hurricane operation procedures and people were sequestered here yesterday and supplied. We were ready for the worst; fortunately, it wasn't the worst."

NStar is encouraging its subscribers to report outages and downed wires by calling 800-592-2000.

As for the English family, today they're staying at an inn in Kingston, Wallace said.