Johnston 'Pretty Lucky' In Wake Of Irene

Johnston emerged from the impact of with some lingering power outages and fallen trees that were awaiting clean-up on Aug. 29, but otherwise survived the storm in good shape, according to the fire and police officials.

During separate phone interviews just before 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Deputy Police Chief David DeCesare — who also serves as the town's Emergency Management Coordinator — and Fire Chief Timothy McLaughlin reported no injuries or deaths in the wake of the storm.

"We seem to have been pretty lucky," McLaughlin explained. "The town of Johnston was very well prepared for whatever was going to come our way."

DeCesare said "sporadic" power outages remained in a few small areas near Centredale, and that National Grid crews were continuing their work to restore electricity.

(As of 10:45 a.m., National Grid reported on its Outage Central website that 7,300 customers were in affected areas in Johnston.)

Both officials lauded the town's response to the hurricane, which was later downgraded to a tropical storm after it made landfall.

"I thought it went as flawlessly as is possibly could have gone," DeCesare explained, adding that the town didn't need to open its emergency shelter at Johnston High School.

McLaughlin estimated that the fire department made between 170 and 180 rescue runs in a 10-hour span on Aug. 28.

"That's a lot of activity, and the guys did a great job getting out there," McLaughlin explained. "We had all hands on deck (on Sunday), and we were ready for anything."

Phone And Generator Failures, Some Flooding

There were a few issues during the storm — the police and fire emergency phone lines and the town's 9-1-1 service went down during the day.

"The 9-1-1 service at State Police Headquarters could assist by routing those calls through our radio system, and the state Emergency Management Agency got the word out [for residents] to call our routine line at the police department," DeCesare explained.

When Cherry Hill Manor lost the use of its back-up generator on Sunday, DeCesare said that the town was able to provide another one within an hour of the outage.

DeCesare also explained that certain areas of the town "that are typically prone to flooding" had a build-up of rainwater between about 9  and 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 28.

"The rain was coming down so hard and so fast that the drains could not keep up," DeCesare recalled. "It was sucking all the leaves, twigs, and debris into drains in those areas."

The town's crews even asked a few residents  to "get out there, get wet, and help clear the drains," DeCesare explained.

Public Works Dept. Phones Down

Also on Aug. 29, the town's Department of Public Works department was without phone service.

Janet Whiteley, Administrative Assistant to Mayor Joseph Poliena, said during a phone interview at about 11 a.m. that Cox Communications was working to restore the DPW's phones.

"If residents want to report fallen trees, they can call Town Hall at the main number, and we'll forward the message to the DPW," Whiteley explained.

The phone number for is (401) 351-6618.

Watch JohnstonPatch for more information on how to handle fallen trees or utility lines.