More Than 500,000 Still Without Power In Massachusetts

Power Restoration Could Take Days

October 31, 2011 9:54 PM

Crews work to fix downed utility wires on Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.(Photo courtesy: National Grid)

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BOSTON (CBS/AP) — More than 400,000 homes and businesses across Massachusetts remained without power Monday following an October nor’easter, and it could be days before all are back on line.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Carl Stevens reports from MEMA HQ:

At a morning news conference, Gov. Deval Patrick said the utility companies’ response to the storm was ‘unprecedented’ in size, with about 1,470 crews on the ground. More are expected from around the country in the next two days.

Photos: October Snow Storm

The governor believes about half the state’s homes and businesses without power would be restored by the end of the day but many may not get relief before the end of the week.

ESTIMATED RESTORATION TIMES: National Grid (.pdf) | NSTAR (.pdf)

Patrick said he will request federal disaster assistance from President Obama Monday afternoon.

The storm that dropped about two feet of snow in some areas late Saturday into Sunday forced dozens of school closures on Monday, and prompted some communities to either postpone or cancel Halloween trick or treating.

National Grid reported more than 280,000 customers still without power as of 9 p.m., with Central Massachusetts the hardest hit.

Western Massachusetts Electric Co. still had about 109,000 without power with near blackout conditions in Agawam, Easthampton and Greenfield.

NStar was down to about 32,000 outages, with the Framingham, Waltham and Walpole areas the hardest hit.

Unitil had more than 8,000 customers without power.

WBZ-TV’s Christina Hager reports from Worcester:

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Kim Tunnicliffe reports from Southboro:

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Bernice Corpuz reports from Billerica:

If you’re wondering when power will return to your home or business, you should call your utility directly.

Patrick said about 1,300 people spent the night in shelters across the state.

Patrick also confirmed one death officially related to the storm – a man electrocuted in Springfield. He said two others – an elderly woman who was killed in a fire in Lunenberg and a man who died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator in Hatfield – may be storm-related.

(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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[...] power outages are still a concern this [...]
Liz

This is the message I received (I live in Foxboro):
Outage Start Time: 10/29/2011 6:45:00 PM
Number of Customers: 2230
Estimated Restoration: 11/3/2011 11:45:00 PM

However, they have that date and time for many places around the state. Why can they be so vague with customers and get away with it? It took 5 days last storm. Mansfield has their own electricity going so they never lost power. Why don’t other towns do the same?
Champers

Why don’t they just cut all the trees 20 feet back from the powerlines and be done with. For all you tree huggers out there, turn off your electricity for a week in mid winter and then see if you feel the same

Jane

You’re absolutely right…. they should cut down the trees at the power lines. Also…they should stop planting trees at the power lines. I saw a couple new houses go up near where I live and where do you think they planted the new trees in the front yard? Right under the power lines. Ridiculous!

Also, it seems like there is no learning curve here whatsoever… every storm like this, the response time doesn’t seem to get any better…

Mae H.

I have been a loyal viewer for decades. Please stop reporting wealthy whiners! If you have lost your electricity before and your town and weather station has warned you that you will again….then get a generator! We are supposed to be hearty New Englanders. If you can not learn from the past then shame on you.

beaches

I agree. The lack of maintenance is serious. I never remember losing power so many times, ever.

Steve

I agree. The WBZ storm center is of no use if you have no internet or phone. How were we to know our son’s school was closed today!
WesWelkerFan

WBZ-AM DID read the no school announcements. I don’t have power either, but at 5:05AM I woke up to my battary operated radio and WBZ was reading off all the no school announcements. They started reading them again when I went out the door to catch my train at 5:35AM.
WesWelkerFan

We lost power in the Garden City neiborhood of North Billerica next to the NB train station at 9:15PM Saturday. Loud explosion as a transformer on Mason Avenue blew. As of 5:35AM, when I went to catch my train, we were stil out of juice. The North Billerica train station was dark on the Letchworth Ave (Garden City) side, but the Billerica Avenue (Mt Pleasent) side had power.
Patata

We lost power at 7:45PM Sat. It is right now 49 degrees in the house. We may just as well be outside. It is 1:00PM Monday and still waiting. Nothing we can do is there, but wait……………..
gigi

no electricity in Worc until Thursday? Thats 5 days! What the heck is going to happen this coming winter!!! sheesh
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[...] the latest string of long, painful outages for people in several towns after a tornado and a tropical storm hit the state earlier this [...]
BoroMomma

How about underground power lines…like the rest of the modern world! Think these five day restoration events will force more and more families to get generators…I don’t remember it taking 5 days in years past…why the new trend??? No electricity in westboro either
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[...] CHECK: ESTIMATED RESTORATION TIMES [...]
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emom

I remember in 1978, there was a huge storm coming our way, However, we truly didn’t know that it was a storm to remember. We didn’t have Internet back then, only TV and radio, However I do remember my mom and I going to a store to pick up on milk , bread and eggs, so she called a few stores and found on that had everything . Off we went, My dad was also gearing up to have some stuff ready for the next day, coolers, pans of water, and shovels ,,, We knew this was going to be a bad storm so we prepared, after the storm hit we found we had no power, and no heat,, oil wont flow with no electricity. But we had something that helped, a BBQ, so we could cook food, sure it was cold out, but it worked. we had no school for almost a week, no electricity for like 4 or 5 days, dad let the water run in a trickles to prevent frozen pipes, he even built a shed to cover the oil tank to protect it from the cold winters. that saved us big time. food in the freezer stayed very well but anything savable in the fridge was put in coolers packed with snow and buried in the snow to keep it cold, NATURES FRIDGE. In the end we all knew what was closed, and if we didn’t we either called or drove there, we didn’t complain about not having power, we just waited, In the end it was a storm to remember, It took every one by surprise..
Now you wonder why so many today DONT prepared for such storms, they take it for granted and then WHINE, CRY AND SCREAM that they are still with out power. I understand its a hassle, BUT you can not prevent what will happen with NATURE, HURRICAINES , TORNADOS, EARTHQUAKES even STORMS like this are all nature. SO we should prepare for such storms.. Not everyone can afford a generator, most do not have a fireplace to stay warm, everyone has electricity, and with population growth is so many areas that are lined with trees, its going to happen that power will be lost,
However I do agree that trees need to be trimmed, wires should be under ground, but if you have trees lining your property and they are under a tree, STOP WHINING if you want the beauty of shade trees over power well you cant have both,, Trees should not be near , around or under power lines, They cause so much issues and makes tremendous work for utility companies, not just electric. Cable cant work near them if the power lines are not secure. for fear of being hurt, same with phones. Why do we forget the past storms,, and WHAT we should do to prepare,,, I never understand that…
Ed Logiudice

I feel bad for everyone who has gone without power…..but, we went without power for 2 WEEKS after the Ice Storm of 2008. Imagine what all of you are going through and stretch it out for 2 weeks. Nobody seemed to care about it back then for some reason…..