National Grid had nearly 4,000 field personnel responding to power outages in Massachusetts and Rhode Island caused by downed limbs, trees, and poles brought on by last weekend’s nor’easter. Across the region, the winter storm caused blizzard conditions, including strong winds, extensive snow and reduced visibility, which led to downed power lines and other damage in some locations.
As of Jan 29, 2020, National Grid had approximately 7,300 customers without service in Massachusetts, while 67 Rhode Island customers were without power. For National Grid customers, the hardest hit area was Nantucket, where persistent winds of 50 mph and gusts topping 70 mph slowed restoration efforts. At 4 p.m., about 4,700 customers on the island were without power. Winds of 35 mph prevent crews from going up in bucket trucks and making repairs on overhead lines. National Grid has deployed additional crews to Nantucket to complete restorations.
Other areas impacted by the storm primarily were on the North and South Shores of Massachusetts. Outages were minimal in Western and Central Massachusetts as well as Rhode Island.
“There are still several hours remaining in this storm, but thus far our system has held up well. We remain ready to restore power as outages occur,” said Michael McCallan, vice-president of New England Electric Operations, Maintenance and Construction. “Thousands of line and forestry workers are in place across Rhode Island and Massachusetts to repair and restore the power systems when it is safe to do so. The heavy snow and strong winds make restoration challenging and sometimes slow, and we appreciate everyone’s patience.”
Field personnel had been responding to emergency 911 and wires down calls, assessing the damage, clearing trees, and making repairs to electrical infrastructure where conditions were safe. Due to the heavy snow and strong winds, crews are proceeding cautiously, but moving safely and efficiently. Safety is their number one priority, and crews will only restore power when the conditions are safe to do so. During this time, responding to 911 and downed power line calls as well as assisting with critical facilities were top priorities.
National Grid secured external crews from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Brunswick and Ontario. All response crews were in place by Friday night.
