Unitil Corporation, (unitil.com), a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England, is continuing to closely monitor the track, intensity and timing of Tropical Storm Henri following landfall in Rhode Island earlier today.
The impacts to southern New England show this storm must be taken very seriously, and our regional teams will continue to stand by until hazards have passed.
Alec O'Meara, Media Relations Manager
According to the most recent forecasts, Henri is currently forecasted to slow and travel westward beyond Unitil’s service region before rapidly decaying and turning eastward. Heavy rains and flooding are possible as the storm passes through Monday. Due to this delay in potential impact, Unitil is currently reassessing the timing of any System EOC opening. Scattered outages are still possible tonight and into tomorrow, and crews will be standing by in all regions ready to deploy should any system issues be reported. Unitil will continue to track the timing and intensity of the storm, and we will be prepared to further escalate our response throughout the overnight hours should the forecast change again.
“While Henri appears to be rapidly decaying as a tropical cyclone, the forecast remains an extremely fluid one as the storm slows,” Unitil Media Relations Manager Alec O’Meara said. “The impacts to southern New England show this storm must be taken very seriously, and our regional teams will continue to stand by until hazards have passed.”
While diminished for our region, the forecasted windy conditions have the potential to take wires to the ground. In the event of downed wires, assume all cables and wires that have fallen or dangling are energized and stay away. Be sure to avoid wet ground or puddles near a downed lined because 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.
Customers experiencing outages should call 1-888-301-7700.
You can also report outages online at unitil.com/report-outage.
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.
