Two Dozen Melrose Homes Without Power; Post-Sandy Cleanup Underway

Power is expected to be restored to two dozen homes that remain in the dark since Hurricane Sandy hit Melrose on Monday, according to a city press statement.

"Power has been restored to all but 24 households (as of 2 p.m. Thursday), and we expect them to have their electricity back by the end of the day (Friday)," reads the statement.

At the peak of the outages, 384 National Grid customers in Melrose were without power, according to the city.

Post-Sandy Cleanup

Tree and debris cleanup is underway and may be completed by the end of next week, according to the statement.

"All downed trees will be removed by the end of the week, and DPW crews will continue picking up branches and tree limbs next week," reads the statement. "Street sweeping began (Thursday) on the collector roads and will continue throughout the city. We will make regular announcements of which areas will be swept; when your neighborhood is being swept, (so) please don't park your car on the street, so the sweepers can do a thorough job.

"Street sweeping is critically important this year, because so many trees lost their leaves all at once."

Retiring Damaged Flags

The city will be remvoing American flags from Main Street next week due to wind damage they sustained during the storm, according to the statement. Typically, flags are left out through Veterans Day, but this year they will be taken down early, added the statement 

City Yard Operations

The City Yard will be open from 8 a.m to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for yard waste and recycling dropoff, reads the statement. 

"Yard waste is being collected this week and will be collected next week and the following week as well," adds the statement.