Methuen Residents Spend Thanksgiving In The Dark
METHUEN (CBS) – It was a frustrating Thanksgiving evening for more than 3,000 residents in Methuen – not because of all the cooking and stress of the holidays, but a power outage at the worst possible time.
"We had everything! Lasagna, turkey, veggies, everything," said resident Rosetta McDonald.
Her family had everything but electricity.
"It was horrible because you have to light candles. You have to find phone lights. There's nothing you can really do," said resident Austin Lane.
Strong winds knocked down a few telephone poles along Pleasant Valley Street around 4:45 p.m.
Methuen Police Lt. Thomas McMenamon said they're lucky the poles didn't come down on a driver.
"We definitely lucked out, being Thanksgiving Day the road wasn't being traveled right now," he said. "When we arrived, there were about 15-20 cars stopped because they couldn't get past the poles."
One telephone pole was leaning across the roadway tangled up with live wire.
National Grid workers were able to restore power to residents within a few hours. At least one family is relieved, but said it wasn't an ideal way to spend the holiday.
"It came back on, but by that time everything was already almost cleaned up because we sat here with flashlights and candles trying to clean everything up," Lane said.
National Grid workers plan to continue repair work through the morning to restore power for nearby businesses.
