Last week’s large and powerful nor’easter brought dangerous wind and heavy rain and snow and caused flooding, as well as significant damage to trees and power lines. As of 8 a.m. Eastern on March 7, approximately 117,000 customers are without power, down from an estimated 3.14 million outages at the height of that storm, according to the Edison Electric Institute. Crews continue to work around the clock to restore power to customers impacted by this storm.
At the same time, companies are preparing for another nor’easter that threatens to bring additional snow and strong wind to the Northeast. Companies are closely monitoring this storm and will respond to any outages as soon as it is safe to do so. Customers should prepare an Emergency Outage Kit and review EEI’s Winter Storm Safety Tips.
Last week's storm caused extensive damage, making restoration work to remaining customers especially complex and challenging. In many areas, damaged trees must be removed from power lines before repairs can be completed, extending the duration of some outages. While outages continue to decrease, much of the remaining work is extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming. Following are images utilities have shared on social media, raising the awareness of the severity of damage and challenges they face.
"We know that being without electricity creates hardships, and we greatly appreciate customers’ patience and understanding as electric companies work day and night to restore power safely," the EEI statement read.