He'd only moved it about a car length up Myrtle Avenue, but it was just far enough to escape being destroyed by a tree that fell about 1 p.m. Monday -- in the exact spot where he'd been parked.
The tree fell onto power lines across the street, the force of the fall splitting a utility pole into about four pieces, Rocheleau said. A piece crushed the back fender, he said, but it could have been much worse.
"Thank God I moved it," Rocheleau, 40, said. "The storm hasn't even really started yet, and look what we're in for."
Only a couple of hours into the wind and rain the Hurricane Sandy superstorm had in store for North Central Massachusetts, trees and power lines were already tumbling down across the region. By 6 p.m., the storm had knocked out power to more than 7,000 electricity customers throughout the region.
Rocheleau's neighbor across the street, Fitchburg State University student Kayleigh Bennett, 22, of Westford, wasn't as lucky.
She and her roommates had been back from grocery shopping for only about a half-hour when they heard the loud crashing sound. They went outside to see that a large tree had fallen on the hood of her 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass, popping its front tires and smashing its windshield.
Bennett took Monday's events in stride.
"What can you do?" Bennett said. "Luckily, I have good roommates and good parents that will help me to get around."
At Market Basket on Water Street in Fitchburg Monday afternoon, the last few stragglers were buying groceries in preparation of the storm. Most people had come in on Saturday and Sunday, as both days were much busier than usual, according to Assistant Store Director Jim St. Cyr.
Jean Sainvil, 43, of Gardner, stopped in to stock up on water and soda on his way home from work, and said he'd already made sure he had flashlights and candles in case his power went out.
"I think this is going to be a big storm," he said. "The worst one we've ever seen around here."
Rosa Ortiz, 34, and Jonathan Membrino, 26, both of Fitchburg, weren't as worried, and were only doing their normal grocery shopping.
"I don't think it's going to be that bad, quite honestly," Ortiz said.
"You never really know with New England weather," Membrino said.
Ortiz was looking forward to staying inside, curling up under her blankets and watching movies -- provided she has power. Just in case, she was charging all of her electronic gadgets to be sure they'd have enough battery life to make it through a day or two without electricity.
Glenda Rivadeneira, 46, of Fitchburg, was stocking up on the essentials. She said she's used to big hurricanes like this, coming from Puerto Rico. One time, she was without power for three months there.
"You go back to the days before electricity," she said. "You go back to playing cards, talking with family."
As of 7:45 p.m., no storm-related injuries were reported by local police.
HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster lost power briefly when a National Grid transformer malfunctioned during the evening, said spokeswoman Mary Lourdes Burke.
The transformer tripped an internal circuit breaker but the hospital spent more than a week preparing for the storm and had a generator ready to go, Burke said.
Power was only lost for 5-10 minutes. "Patient care has not been affected," Burke said in an email.
Fitchburg DPW workers were out through the evening, working to clear catch basins that kept becoming clogged with leaves despite efforts made in advance of the storm and throughout the day on Monday.
"It's still a problem," Fitchburg DPW Commissioner Lenny Laakso said at about 5:30 p.m. "The leaves keep falling, so they keep clogging the drains."
DPW crews had also drained a great deal of water out of Greens Pond to reduce the peak flow of the Nashua River when the rain and resulting runoff picks up, Laakso said, with the intention of reducing any flooding that may occur.
In some areas, such as under the railroad bridge on River Street in Fitchburg, flooding was inevitable. The bridge over the river, which is currently under construction, was closed to traffic as of the afternoon because a couple feet of water had accumulated there, Laakso said.
According to Laakso, about 10 trees fell down throughout Fitchburg in the first six hours of the storm, with the first one coming down across Alpine Road just before 1 p.m. Coggshall Park was closed by 2:30 p.m. to prevent anyone from becoming trapped by any trees that may fall there.
Sean Murphy was looking out a back window with his son Drew, 14, at 116 Sacramento Drive in Leominster when a large tree fell on power lines about 1 p.m.
"We saw the sparks then we heard the booms," Murphy said. "They were loud, they sent some neighbors out looking from across the street."
The tree would have fallen onto his fence and in-ground pool if it fell toward his house but luckily fell on power lines which did not disrupt service to his home, Murphy said.
Murphy said his family was prepared for the storm with a generator fueled and ready.
"I grew up in New England, you're ready for these things, you know," he said.
As the afternoon wore on there were increasing numbers of trees and limbs falling.
A healthy-looking pine tree roughly 40 feet tall fell on the roof of 561 Willard St., in Leominster around 2 p.m.
Ryan Clark watched with is girlfriend, Rebecca Szocik, and uncle, Ronnie Boland, as workers from GM Tree Service cut up the tree and removed it from the roof with a crane.
His parents, Thomas and Candice Clark, have been proactive about trimming their trees around the house but Justin Harrington, owner of GM, said even healthy trees can fall.
"Just from the wind," he said. "Pine -- they're real soft."
There were trees falling around Leominster though most fell harmlessly or on electrical and television service wires.
"It's been busy with this type of stuff," said Leominster Deputy Chief Jeff Davis as firefighters closed Washington street between Merriam Avenue and West Street because a tree limb fell on wires across the roadway about 3:30 p.m.
Milly Borges took refuge in the shelter at Southeast School in Leominster with her daughter Melanie, 11, and mother Eneida Quinones as a precaution.
They have a lot of trees around their Richardson Street home and a lot windows, Borges said.
The family was also worried about losing electrical service to their multifamily home.
"We feel safe here," she said. "We're just taking precautions and making sure that we're going to be safe."
The family took refuge in the shelter during last year's Halloween snowstorm, as well.
Charlie Coggins, the director of the Leominster Office of Emergency Management, expected more people to use the shelter as the evening wore on.
Jean Hudson, the deputy director of the LOEM, was in charge of the shelter where there were initially about 20 cots set up in the school gym but another 400 available.
The shelter was prepared with coffee, tea and light meals, Hudson said.
She was also planning to have a nurse staff the shelter later in the day.
Leominster Housing Authority's Notre Dame Apartments for senior citizens at Notre Dame and Arlington streets lost electrical service about 5 p.m.
The complex had generators and National Grid was responding quickly, said Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella.
"Other than that we're moving ahead," he said.
Weather forecasts were changing during the day and by late afternoon it looked as if the worst of the storm would be over around 8 p.m., Mazzarella said.
The original forecasts were for the storm to last about 18 hours but by afternoon that had been reduced to about eight or 10 hours, Coggins said.
The emergency management office has about 53 generators and lent about eight to residents around the city, Coggins said.
"We're getting a lot of sandbag requests," Coggins said.
The temperature was rising as the storm grew closer so that was helping the outlook, Mazzarella said.
Municipal and School Department officials were waiting to decide whether to cancel public school today, Mazzarella said.
"The feeling is, even if it subsides by 1 a.m. we won't see crews come in to make repairs until sunlight," Coggins said.
As of 6 p.m., Fitchburg Superintendent of Schools Andre Ravenelle also had yet to decide whether or not Fitchburg Public Schools would open on Tuesday. A call placed to Ravenelle Monday evening was not returned.
Fitchburg State University, which canceled classes Monday, decided to go with a delayed opening on Tuesday, with offices opening at 10:30 a.m. and classes resuming at 11 a.m. Should conditions change, according to FSU spokesman Matthew Bruun, an update will be provided for students and staff via Connect-ED early in the morning, and announcements will be made on the FSU website, Facebook and Twitter.
Fitchburg District Court, which closed early on Monday at noon, will be open again for business at noon Tuesday.
Fitchburg city offices at Putnam Place will be open throughout the week, according to Mayor Lisa Wong, though they closed a half hour early at 4 p.m. on Monday as the storm began to pick up.
Trick-or-treating is still postponed to Saturday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., even if the storm blows over, she said.
"There might be cleanup, or power outages, and we want folks to have time to work on those things," Wong said. "The cleanup after the storm is sometimes longer than the storm itself."
Trick-or-treat on Main Street will also still be happening earlier that day from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Trash pickup will remain on a normal schedule for Tuesday, according to Fitchburg Public Health Director Steve Curry, as well as B-week (blue lid) recycling and yard waste.
"I am advising our residents to keep their carts secured overnight and then put them out tomorrow morning before 6:30 a.m. for collection," Curry said in an email Monday afternoon.
Fitchburg canceled two municipal meetings that were to be held Monday evening--the Capital Improvement Commission City Hall Subcommittee and Fitchburg Cultural Council -- and it is unclear when these meetings will be rescheduled.
Laakso said, as of 2:30 p.m., that the City Council Public Works Committee meeting scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Fitchburg Public Library was still on as scheduled. According to Principal Planner Michael O'Hara, the Conservation Commission meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the same location is also on as scheduled.
Wong said the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Shirley Town Hall as also been canceled.
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