RMLD Sets Plan for Possible Outages

With Hurricane Sandy officially arriving in the area on Monday, Reading Municipal Light Department is making preparations for the possibility of power outages in Wilmington, Reading, North Reading and Lynnfield.

RMLD Public Relations Manager Priscilla Gottwald said that in addition to regular tree trimming crews, linemen were pulled off of their regular duties on Friday and Saturday and assisgned to clearing overgrown branches that could fall and damage wires and lead to power outages.

Branches that are trimmed during the storm are left on the side of the road until local Department of Public Works employees can pick them up and remove them after service has been repaired, RMLD said.

Joining RMLD crews will be additional tree trimming and electric construction crews who will arrive on Monday to assist throughout the storm.

Any outages sustained during Hurricane Sandy will be posted on the RMLD website so residents know where crews have been dispatched to.

“With this emergency plan in place, we expect good success for restoration of power to all RMLD customers in the event of widespread outages,” said Engineering and Operations Manager Kevin Sullivan.