Unitil Corporation, (unitil.com), a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England, is preparing for potential impacts from Tropical Storm Isaias Tuesday evening and into Wednesday.
"We will continue to monitor the storm as it approaches, and have organized our emergency operations to take into account social distancing and other COVID-19 protection measures."
Alec O'Meara, Media Relations Manager
According to the most recent forecasts, Isaias is expected to be a rapidly moving tropical storm as it passes the region on Tuesday night, with heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 30-45 mph possible in all areas and gusts approaching 55 mph possible closer to the coast. Such wind gusts, should they manifest, have the potential to take down branches and upend trees, causing damage to electric infrastructure. Heavy rains associated with the storm may also cause flooding in some areas, which may hamper restoration efforts.
"Tropical cyclones are notoriously difficult to forecast and a change in track of just a few miles can have a significant impact on both a storm’s ultimate track and intensity. We will continue to monitor the storm as it approaches, and have organized our emergency operations to take into account social distancing and other COVID-19 protection measures, should any restoration be necessary," said Alec O'Meara, Media Relations Manager for Unitil.
In light of the ongoing concerns regarding COVID 19, Unitil proactively secured additional third party crews to bolster resources at the start of the pandemic, and has kept personnel working remotely wherever possible to protect the overall health of employees.
We recommend our customers remain similarly prepared by checking and making an inventory of the following items:
- Flashlights and fresh batteries
- A battery-operated radio and clock
- Bottled water, canned foods and a manual can opener
- A list of important phone numbers and a car charger for cell phones if applicable
- A first aid kit.
The 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.
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. You can also report outages online here.
