This story was originally published by our news partners at WBUR. We are republishing it in partnership with the New England News Collaborative.
Hotels on Cape Cod are full as homes remain without power days after a monster storm walloped the East Coast.
Crews have worked to restore power over the course of the week, but over 70,000 were still in the dark across the eastern part of the state by Thursday morning.
As the days drag on, the situation is increasingly dire for Cape residents. Temperatures inside homes dropped without heat. Food in the fridge has begun to rot. Some have tucked their food outside in the snow to keep it cold.
Many residents decided to leave their homes in search of warmth and a meal. While some in the area have taken refuge at overnight shelters, others are clamoring for the few available hotel rooms in a region that famously shuts its doors in the offseason.
Mackenzie Rattigan, of Plymouth, said she didn’t initially panic when her home lost power Monday. She bundled her two young kids, Tyler and Kaylee, in warm clothes and piled them under blankets on the couch. But by Tuesday morning, Rattigan decided they had to make a move — her son’s lips seemed to be turning blue.
“That was terrifying,” she said. “Literally when that happened we got right in the car, put the heat on and drove.”
Rattigan said it took a day of searching to find a hotel with an opening. She said she called 10 of them in Plymouth, and went to three in person, finding all were booked up.
Finally, Rattigan found an open room in Sandwich. She said it will cost $400 for three nights. It’s a stretch for Rattigan, who works at Taco Bell, and her fiancé, who works in a factory.
Rattigan said she was glad the hotel’s pool could help distract her kids. But her 3-year-old daughter’s favorite part of the room? The heater, she said.
Orleans resident Harry Gee is a full-time caregiver to his mother, who has dementia. Gee said he drove around for hours before finding a room at the Margaritaville Resort in Hyannis.
Gee was relieved to have somewhere to stay, but said it’s been a chaotic experience.
“We had to wait in line for two hours and the front desk was having trouble,” Gee said. “It was discombobulated.”
Rachel Thayer, the general manager of Margarittaville, acknowledged the lack of “calm” but said her team has been working hard to offer something to those who’ve been displaced. She said the phone has been ringing constantly with people looking for a room.
“We hang up on one, we pick up another, we hang up on one, we pick up another,” Thayer recounted.
The hotel’s 276 rooms are full, Thayer said. She estimates about half the guests are local.
The Bayside Resort Hotel in West Yarmouth is also at capacity, with 128 rooms booked. Manager Tashula Beamish said it’s increasingly difficult to turn people away.
“I feel like the Cape as a whole, not everybody has the money to waste on hotel rooms so I think a lot of people waited out as long as they can and then got rooms if there are rooms available,” Beamish said.
“We did the best we could to provide for as many people as we could,” she added.
With production by WBUR’s Katie Cole.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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