Many outages in our area repaired, but crews still working

By JEFF EPSTEIN
[email protected]
CLAREMONT — Crews from all three major electricity suppliers in the area are out in force, still repairing equipment damaged in Tuesday’s snowstorm.

Many of the outages sustained Tuesday have now been repaired, including many in the local area. Unfortunately, as fast as some lines go back into service others go down as the weight of accumulated ice and snow drops them. Also, tree branches that had been weighed down can shed snow in gusty winds, making them snap back to contact power lines.

The utilities say that some crews have had to literally cut through fallen trees to access damaged equipment.

Western communities accounted for more than 60 percent of Eversource’s outages, the company said. More than 450 crews were working on repairs as of Thursday, it said.

Although the numbers are dynamic, they do give a sense of the scope of the challenge:

The Eversource outage map showed no current outages between Claremont and Walpole, but much of that region is served by the New Hampshire Electric Co-op. 

NHEC estimated fewer than 1,000 customers were still without power as of Thursday evening, according to spokesperson Seth Wheeler. The utility was hopeful to get “just about everybody on tonight,” he said.

Specific numbers for towns were unclear, however as the NHEC outage map showed conflicting information. For example, it depicted two affected locations in Claremont, one with one customer affected, the other with 102. The town roster (see the table) lists 12 customers out of 183 in Claremont affected. Wheeler said he didn’t know what was causing the discrepancies.

In Vermont, Green Mountain Power estimates more than 106,000 customers lost power, across the state during the storm,  with fewer than 10,000 customers still out as of Thursday evening.

 “Cement-like snow frozen on lines and trees combined with already saturated ground…is causing trees to fall over,” a company statement said.

Here are the numbers for some local towns as of late afternoon Thursday.  Current figures are likely to be lower.

Weathersfield: 7 incidents affecting 133 customers

West Windsor: 17 incidents affecting 249 customers

Windsor:  4 incidents affecting 14 customers

Springfield: 11 incidents affecting 46 customers.