As crews got an early start Wednesday morning to tackle the post-storm clean up process, tens of thousands of homes in New England remained without power.
In Massachusetts, there were over 20,000 customers reported to be without power as of around 1 p.m. Wednesday, down from more than 54,000 Tuesday evening, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. The outages were concentrated in western and central Massachusetts. Eversource said Tuesday evening they had more than 1,300 line, tree, and service crews out working to restore power.
"It's been pretty freezing," Khywuan Tilghman said, who's been without power for over a day. "We've had to wear a lot of layers in the house. The furnace is turned off. No electricity, no food. Had to go to Market Basket yesterday in the middle of the day to go get deli meats."
National Grid said Wednesday morning that more than 95,000 customers have had their power restored since the storm began, and noted that crews were working on the remaining outages.
"Our crews have been working through challenging conditions and remain dedicated to restoring customers as quickly as possible while keeping our teams and the public safe," Tanya Moniz-Witten, Vice President of New England Electric Operations at National Grid, said in a news release. "We are on track to restore most customers by tonight, and we will continue working until every last customer has had their service restored."
In New Hampshire as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday., Eversource was reporting over 50,000 customers without power. New Hampshire Electric Co-op reported over 3,000, and Unitil reported over 200 without power.
In a news release from the state's Department of Public Safety, officials in the Granite State said that crews were continuing work to restore power as a wind advisory impacted parts of the state.
“Storm related threats, such as downed power lines and debris, pose a danger,” Homeland Security Emergency Management Director Robert Buxton said in the written release. “If you come across downed wires, stay away and call 9-1-1. Give cleanup crews plenty of space and never go around or move roadway barriers. You could put your life or the lives of others in danger.”
Green Mountain Power of Vermont was reporting over 23,000 customers without power across 99 towns as of around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
In Maine, over 33,000 customers remained without power as of 1:30 p.m., according to Central Maine Power.
Eversource reported about 1,000 without power in Connecticut as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Rhode Island Energy was reporting over 300 outages.
Utility companies have been ramping up preparations in recent days in anticipation of this storm, even calling in crews from around the country to help with the anticipated outages.
