Winter’s one-two punch
After tricky blast of snow and rain, frigid temps, ice wreak havoc in Valley Ice, heating woes force some schools to delay; North Smithfield cancels
NORTH SMITHFIELD — School officials in North Smithfield Tuesday canceled classes at all schools due to ice-covered school parking lots, slippery town roadways and heating problems at the North Smithfield Elementary School, where 11 classrooms were without heat yesterday.
“Despite the North Smithfield DPW and our maintenance department working through the day Sunday, and our maintenance department again on Monday, weather conditions are such that a number of roads, along with our school parking lots, remain iced over,” School Superintendent Michael St. Jean said in a message sent out to parents Monday night.
St. Jean said school maintenance crews were working Tuesday to clear school parking lots and resolve heating problems at the elementary school on Providence Pike where 11 classrooms had no heat.
“With the icy roads and parking lots
in mind, heating issues at NSES, and the extreme cold expected during the morning bus pickup, we are exercising caution and canceling school,” the superintendent said.
St. Jean said exams at the high school and middle school will be pushed back by a day. There will be half days this week, with an update regarding next Monday posted by today.
Due to the cancellation of school, all practices for the district were canceled as well.
There was a one-hour delay and canceled preschool sessions Tuesday for most area schools, including Cumberland, Lincoln and Burrillville.
Bitter cold settled in over weekend after a major winter storm blanketed a wide swath of the country in snow, sleet and rain, creating dangerously icy conditions that complicated cleanup efforts and made travel challenging Monday and Tuesday.
On Monday, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo declared a state of emergency in Newport County and activated the National Guard after National Grid cut gas service to more than 7,000 residents.
Raimondo held a press conference at the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Cranston yesterday to address the gas outages in Newport and Middletown, urging impacted customers to seek alternative shelter at a warming center, with friends or family, or at a hotel.
National Grid shut off several gas lines in the area due to low pressure that could have become dangerous. National Grid reports that it is likely to take a week or more to fully restore service to all impacted customers.
In an effort to assist Central Falls residents braving the bitter cold, that city opened warming centers Monday and Tuesday at the Forand Manor and Wilfred Manor.
In Burrillville, the Burrillville Historical & Preservation Society canceled its January meeting Tuesday due to “icy and treacherous conditions” around the Bridgeton School. The scheduled event, “Ghosts of the Blackstone Valley,” by Tom D’Agostino, will be rescheduled.
The freezing temperatures broke records in parts of New England.
Boston only reached a high of 10 degrees, and the temperature only climbed to a high of 1 degree in Worcester, Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service Boston. Earlier on Monday, Worcester tied its record low temperature at negative-6 degrees.
Parts of New England will remain under a wind chill advisory through Wednesday morning as temperatures could feel like negative-5 to negative-20 degrees.