Several Homes, Businesses Still Without Power Day After Storm

HAVERHILL (CBS) - Utility crews are still working to restore power in hard hit areas of Essex County after the powerful nor'easter brought down trees and power lines.

"I was snow blowing, I came around the corner noticed the wires down and then I saw the tree," said Methuen resident John Saba whose Prospect Street neighborhood was left without power.

"The tree uprooted, came down and started fire. There was a big flash and the transformer blew," said Saba.

Roland, who lives nearby, told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker he didn't hear the tree fall, but knew something was amiss.

Check: Massachusetts Power Outage Map

"I was in the house, I just got home from work, and all of a sudden, everything went black," he said.

Utility crews worked through the night and into Wednesday to restore it. Kathy Shores was startled by the sound. "There was a lot of wind and then I heard a brushing sound and then a loud bang," she said.

Julio Leon had a couple of battery powered lights but not much to keep his elderly in-laws warm. "It's an old house so as soon as night fell around 2 or 3 in the morning it was really cold," he said.

More than 4,000 people lost power in Methuen. Workers from South Carolina were among the out of state utility crews brought in to help in the aftermath of the storm. It was a similar story in Haverhill where Pam Macrae says strong winds brought down a tree and power lines outside her home.

Live wires were still hanging on her truck in the driveway and Haverhill Police are stationed on Woodlawn Ave. which is still closed. "We can't go in our driveway, we can't move the truck. It's not a safe area right now," said Macrae.

National Grid says outages that were numbering in the thousands are now down to the hundreds as progress is being made.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports