Residents Turn to Hotels After 2 Days Without Power

It hasn't been an easy couple days in Merrimack, there's no question about that.

As of 11 p.m. on Monday night, 73 percent of town remained without power, despite work by line and tree crews in Merrimack all day long.

A drive around town, however, paints a clear picture of why.

Trees that haven't had the chance to harden in the cold that comes with winter split down the middle under the weight of snow and leaves. Large limbs and branches litter roadways and yards around Merrimack. Branches are tangled in wires, trees have ripped down poles, leaving residents in the dark and cold for yet another night.

After more than two days without power, people are getting antsy and many have turned to local hotels as a place to find warmth.

The Residence Inn and Comfort Inn, which sit side by side on Daniel Webster Highway just north of the Anheuser-Busch plant, were both completely full by Tuesday evening, even though neither had power until late in the afternoon.

Cherri Dukes, the manager at the said it had been a crazy couple days. On Sunday, the 129-suite hotel had a waiting list of 150 people. Given that the hotel itself was lacking power like the majority of homes in Merrimack, Dukes said it was definitely an unusual situation.

“People checked in knowing we didn't have any power, so I don't know what their houses were like, but it must have been pretty bad,” Dukes said.

She said this isn't the first time the hotel has been flooded by guests in the wake of an extended power outage, but it is the first time that they, too, did not have power.

Upon check-in on Sunday and early Monday, guests were given flashlights, glow sticks and fire logs (nearly all the suites are equipped with working fireplaces).

On Monday, power returned to the hotel sometime around 2:30 p.m. While the hotel certainly made accommodations as comfortable as possible for people – holding continental style meals and ordering pizza when the power was down – Dukes said they were grateful to have electricity again. By 7 p.m., the hotel was sold out for that night and Wednesday, although, as power situations change, rooms may open up. The hotel can be reached at 424-8100 to check for room availability.

Next door, at the , Front Desk Clerk Jessica Colon said the hotel was mostly sold out Saturday night when they lost power. Because the hotel is not allowed to force people out, it remained open, but many of the guests left. Colon, who was off for the weekend, said that all but two guests left the hotel after the power dropped, but all that changed when it came back on.

“When I came here at 3 this afternoon, we had power back and a huge line,” Colon said. Like their neighbor, the hotel was sold out for Monday and Tuesday by 7 p.m. Monday night, only 4 and a half hours after power was restored.

“This is bad,” Colon said. “When the ice storm hit in 2008 it wasn't even this bad.”

The Comfort Inn can be reached at 429-4600 to check for room availability.

Serving a community in need

Earlier in the day, despite lacking power, or partial power, businesses in Merrimack were still working to accommodate customers with meals or even just a hot cup of coffee.

At , a four-month old coffee shop in the Skyline Mall, they were open and running partially on a generator until power came back later in the afternoon. The generator gave them the ability to power a couple utility lamps and the K-Cup coffee maker they use to sell coffee, owner Leslie Caron said.

They didn't have heat, but the coffee was hot and the customers grateful, Caron said. She was also open on Sunday, but not many people knew. Monday, she posted a sign out front advertising hot coffee and posted on Facebook that they were open.

She unlocked the doors at 6 a.m., two and a half hours early, and had a line to the door at times.

And Caron decided a little technological upgrade might be worth trying out for some added convenience for customers experiencing the need to pay cash just about everywhere they went.

Caron, downloaded the application to use her iPhone to process credit card transactions. She'd never used it before, but after a few hours of it Monday morning, she was sold. She said she planned to go to the Apple store and purchase a card reader to speed up the process should she need to do this in the future.

Also open was Sal's Kitchen, despite only partial power. The restaurant had lights in the dining room, and some electricity in the kitchen, which allowed them to prepare some food, though not a full menu. Though the dining room was lit, the kitchen lights were not working and the restaurant was forced to close at 4 p.m. when it got too dark to work.

They were the 2 percent

Among the lucky ones who never suffered major power outages, and were open for regular business on Sunday and Monday, each with steady streams of customers all day.

Owner Jim Flowers said the store was open until 7 p.m. Sunday night, they normally close at 5 p.m.

“We're trying to do what we can to make it as convenient for people as possible,” Flowers said. “It's hard enough as it is.”

The D.W. Diner was also humming with business.

Dining room Manager Danielle Magee said they brought on extra staff Monday to handle the business. At 1 p.m. about an hour before close, the restaurant was about three quarters full still.

“We haven't stopped since six this morning,” Magee said. “People are grateful to have a place to go to get a warm meal and a hot cup of coffee. They've been patient.”

Cooks were sent to Manchester to the nearest open supermarket with perishable goods, as the threat of running out of eggs loomed at the eatery.

Jill Coyle, a Merrimack resident, was eating lunch at the diner with her daughters Alli and Katie Spencer, and her parents, Gladys and Bob Schussel in visiting from Atlanta for a long weekend.

Coyle said they were faring fine through the storm, with a generator hardwired into their home, they are able to keep their refrigerator running, some lights and some kitchen outlets and heat among other things.

The family was in good spirits and ready to ride out the power outage.

Bill Schussel, with a constant smile on his face, talked about visiting other parts of New Hampshire to get out of the house for a while and said between the house being warm enough and the number of places they were able to find open in the area, it's been a story-worthy experience, but not disastrous.

“It's been fun,” Gladys Schussel said.

We will continue to follow the clean up from the storm and bring updates on Merrimack Patch as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

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