Unitil Corporation, (Unitil.com), a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England, has restored power to the majority of customers impacted by this week’s snowstorm while keeping a watchful eye on the next system that’s expected to hit the region later today.
As of 6:45 a.m., just under 200 customers remained without power in Unitil’s service territory. Of those, 173 were in Massachusetts and 11 were in New Hampshire.
Crews will continue working to restore power to the remaining affected customers with restoration efforts lasting into Thursday for those in isolated pockets that experienced more extensive damage and others with individual service issues.
While crews made significant progress overnight in restoring power during this multi-day event, Unitil is preparing for another storm that is forecasted to move into the region by this afternoon. Based on the latest forecast, the storm could bring another 2 to 7 inches of heavy, wet snow transitioning to a wintry mix with some ice before changing to all rain. The highest totals are expected to be in the Concord, N.H., region. Forecasters say the storm may also bring windy conditions with gusts ranging from 25 to 35 mph with some peak gusts up to 40 mph.
“Crews have been working around the clock to bring affected customers back online since the first outages began during Monday’s storm, but we’re aware that this next storm could cause additional impacts to our system and bring renewed outages,” Unitil Media Relations Manager Alec O’Meara said. “The series of storms in recent days has certainly been challenging, but we appreciate the patience of our customers as our crews have worked to make repairs.”
Heavy wet snow has the potential to damage trees and to take wires to the ground. We urge all to always assume all cables and wires have fallen or dangling are energized and stay away. Be sure to avoid wet ground or puddles near a downed line, as water conducts electricity. In addition, keep away from all flooded and debris-laden areas because they may be hiding downed lines. Stay in a safe place and avoid driving in damaged areas so you don’t interfere with rescue and restoration efforts.
Unitil will be communicating throughout the event through Public Service Announcements (PSAs), our website, our customer call center and through the media. We also encourage customers to follow along with our storm updates via Facebook, our Twitter feed (@Unitil) and we will be providing real-time outage information online at unitil.com/map.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR MEDIA:
Unitil asks that when reporting outage information, outlets time stamp the information. Outage numbers change hourly and we wish to make sure the information customers receive is consistent and understandable. Re-Tweets and re-posting of old information without referencing a time can create confusion.
Customers experiencing outages should call 1-888-301-7700 or report online at unitil.com/report-outage.
