Unitil Corporation, (unitil.com), a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England, is preparing for a long duration wind event throughout the day tomorrow.
"We have organized our emergency operations to take into account social distancing and will be prepared to respond should outages occur."
Alec O'Meara, Media Relations Manager
According to the most recent forecasts, heavy rain, thunderstorms and prolonged wind gusts of 35-45 mph are possible in all service areas, with gusts in excess of 55 mph possible during the heaviest periods of rain. Wind gusts in excess of 55 mph have the potential to take down branches and upend trees, causing damage to electric infrastructure.
"While we are thankful the leaves are still off the trees, the recent rains have saturated the ground, possibly making it easier for the wind to take down trees. We have organized our emergency operations to take into account social distancing and will be prepared to respond should outages occur," said Media Relations Manager Alec O'Meara.
In light of the ongoing concerns regarding COVID 19, Unitil proactively secured additional third party crews to bolster resources. Crews that had traveled to Maine to assist with restoration efforts over the weekend will be back on the system and standing by in all regions. Unitil will continue to monitor the forecast and is prepared to escalate its response further if conditions warrant doing so.
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.
