AMHERST — Several schools in the region were either closed or sent students home early on Monday after gusts from a powerful overnight storm knocked over trees and left some without power.
Belchertown school officials started the day by announcing a two-hour delay, before deciding to close schools altogether for the entire day. In Amherst, the high school and Summit Academy — formerly the South East Campus school — were shut down at noon because of power failures.
In Belchertown, Superintendent Karol Coffin said that downed trees and power lines initially led school officials to delay the start of the school day by two hours to ensure that transportation could safely reach the district’s schools. Jabish Middle School, however, was without electricity, and the building’s small generator failed to work.
Coffin said she hopes power is restored by Monday evening, but school officials have met to discuss possible backup plans in case electricity is not up and running by Tuesday.
“We do want to make sure that children are able to go to school tomorrow,” Coffin said, adding that she would be updating families on the district’s plans when they are finalized.
Amherst Regional High School was also without power on Monday morning, resulting in an early end to the school day for the district’s high schoolers.
“We were unable to resolve the issue as quickly as we thought, we had to call in some external support,” Superintendent Michael Morris said. After power could not be restored, officials made sure students ate lunch before sending them home. Power was eventually restored by around 1:30 p.m.
There were a total of more than 290,000 power outages across the state as of 1 p.m. on Monday, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
In Belchertown, six percent of residents were without power as of 1 p.m., and in Amherst power seemed to be restored for most customers by the afternoon, according to the agency. Pelham was experiencing 14 percent power outages at 1 p,.m, and Hadley around 5 percent, according to the agency’s figures.
Hampden County was hit harder than Hampshire County, with towns like Hampden and Monson experiencing as much as 90 percent power outages, according to the agency.
This story will be updated.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.