Scituate residents, crews estimate ‘weeks’ of severe weather cleanup

SCITUATE, R.I. (WLNE) — Five days after severe weather tore across southern New England, Scituate residents continued their cleanup efforts.

The neighborhood off Byron Randall Road in Scituate is believed to be one of the hardest hit communities across Rhode Island. Home and property damage from the tornado is still evident Wednesday.

“It will never end,” said John Gostanian, a resident in the neighborhood, about cleaning his property. “I had to power wash the house. I had gunk all over the house, and it was just a matter of hauling all the debris out of here.”

Gostanian believes the tornado went through his backyard and ripped up about 50 trees on his property.

He added, “They either popped out of the ground, uprooted, or the tops were blown off completely.”

Scituate’s Department of Public Works and other local businesses helped clear back roads like Byron Randall over the past week.

“When I got here, I was in awe,” said Joe Kohler, of Joe’s Tree Service in Scituate. “I had never seen anything quite like this. It was just like a bomb went off. It was like walking into a warzone.”

Kohler and others continue to clear the road from trees and debris.

He added, “It’s overwhelming. We work for eight hours every day, nine hours by the end of the day. We only got 100 feet or so. It takes like 40 minutes to fill the truck.”

Kohler said he anticipates a full cleanup will take weeks to fully clear the roads.