Sandy Thumps Wilmington, Property Damage Widespread

Hurricane Sandy left visible damage throughout Wilmington, and Deputy Fire Chief Rick McClellan saw almost all of it first hand during a busy Monday.

McClellan said about eight trees fell through houses around town, though just one person was transported to an area hospital with injuries because of the storm.

That person was the driver of a truck on Shawsheen Ave. who had a large pine tree land on his vehicle. The man suffered injuries to his legs, but his condition was not life threatening when he was transported.

As of about 11 p.m. on Monday, McCellan said Route 129 remained closed from Grace Drive to Reed Street. Hathaway Road and Park Ave. were also closed late Monday with trees across live wires.

There was some puddling in streets around town, but McClellan said there was no major flooding to report.

“Other than that one incident, we didn’t have any injuries, just a lot of damage to personal property,” said McClellan. “It was a joint effort between the DPW, Tree Departemnt, and RMLD. We all work very well together. It has to be done in conjunction with each other in order to work.”

One stunning sign of Hurricane Sandy’s impact came on Chapman Road where firefighters were initially called when a tree was uprooted and fell over onto a home, leaning onto the roof.

Then a few hours later, a second tree of about the same size fell in the same manner onto the house, landing on top of the other tree. Amazingly, despite having two trees on its roof, the house did not sustain damage.

As of about midnight, Reading Municipal Light Department alerted customers that it would be shutting down repair efforts until daylight on Tuesday morning.

Check back with Wilmington Patch throughout the day for more updates on the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.