Storm Planning 'Went Very Well'

Town emergency management director Ray Mead has been planning for the storm for about two weeks.

And now that the worst has passed, and Grafton survived without injury or serious incidents, he has another plan: Catching up on his zzzz’s.

“I’m going to sleep tonight, trust me,’’ he said, laughing.

Mead has spent much of the last two weeks communicating with Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency staff members, coordinating with members of the police, fire and highway departments,  and working to get information out to the public.

A hurricane has one advantage over a tornado, he said: Ample warning allows time to plan.

In some ways, he said, emergency planning departments could be considered the Department of Redundancy Redundancy: You can never plan too much.

“It’s all about the pre- time,’’ he said. “You can never plan enough.’’

Emergency management personnel were in regular contact with MEMA to get the latest official information. They regularly monitored the weather station located on a pole outside the

Having the latest information and sharing it with everyone allowed the town to be ready for any situation, he said. “It was a lot of work,’’ he said.

The town planned for a severe hurricane with potentially catastrophic damage.

Instead, to everyone’s relief, the storm had been downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit Grafton.

“This was a test for emergency management,’’ he said. “It went very well.’’