Crews tackle widespread outages after severe storm
Crews from Green Mountain Power and Quebec travel westward on Route 4 in Woodstock Village on Saturday. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
UPDATE, 12/19, 7:30 PM: Green Mountain Power reported that crews have made a lot of progress, restoring power to 108,800 customers with 2,130 left to go.
They are posting updates in GMP’s outage center as they have them for specific spots: https://greenmountainpower.com/outages/
And for those spots without an ETA, here is a link to high level restoration times for towns so everyone can plan and be safe: https://greenmountainpower.com/.../storm-update.../ It is important to note that these show when the last person in the hardest hit spots will be back on, and is not an ETA for the whole town, as most will be on sooner, GMP officials said.
These towns have set up warming shelters for people to go to:
- Norwich Fire house
- Hartland Town office
- Sharon Fire house
- Woodstock Fire house
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UPDATE, 12/18, 3:15 PM: In total, Green Mountain Power crews have restored power to over 80,000 customers impacted by this storm. As of 3 p.m. today, 18,800 GMP customers were still out, and crews continued their work throughout Windsor County, including in Pomfret and nearby towns. The total of towns impacted was down to 93, with crews addressing 787 active incidents. At 3 p.m., the percentage of GMP customers without power included the following: 71% in Barnard; 49% in Pomfret; 41% in Hartland; 31% in Hartford and Bridgewater; and 27% in Woodstock.
Also today, the Woodstock Fire Department continues to maintain a warming center in the training room of the Emergency Services Building at 454 Woodstock Road. If there are any questions, call the fire department at 802-457-2337.
The Town of Chester began a warming center today at the Chester Emergency Services Building at 130 Pleasant Street. People are asked to call the Chester Fire Department at 802-875-2211 with any questions.
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STATE UPDATE ON OUTAGE RESPONSE, 12/17, 7:50 PM: Mark Bosma, of Vermont Emergency Management, said the state is currently identifying sites for warming centers in areas where extended outages are expected. These centers are open during the day.
“We will be checking back with towns tomorrow (Sunday) to see how things are going or if they’re hearing from people who need a place to go,” Bosma said in an email. “We’ll also get data from 2-1-1 to figure out if a warming center or shelter is needed in a specific area. If we open any (warming centers) we will post on our website, notify the media, and post to social media.”
The state also offers guidance on safe food storage and consumption during an outage at this link.
LOCAL NUMBERS: As of 7:50 p.m., some GMP customers had power restored. In Woodstock, the percentage of customers without power was down to 51%; for Bridgewater it had dropped to 71%. However, power crews continued to address a number of issues in nearby and remote areas, with 28,000 customers still in the dark.
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A major winter storm dumping up to two feet of heavy snow in some areas of Vermont has left tens of thousands without power, and utility crews will be at work around the clock to restore that service.
Over 35,900 Green Mountain Power customers were without power as of 4:30 p.m., impacting 142 towns. GMP crews were responding to 1,336 active incidents.
The severest outages were in Windsor County. To help those with no heat at home, the Woodstock Fire Department opened up a warming station in the training room of the Emergency Services Building 454 Woodstock Rd.
As of 4:30 p.m., Woodstock had 68% of customers without power; in Bridgewater, the number was at 87%. Nearby Hartford reported 58%. While there was some variance to the outage levels, multiple county towns had most of their residents without electric service. As of 4 p.m., GMP officials did not have a time estimate for when power would be restored to the region.
Throughout Saturday, power crews from GMP and also Quebec were in the area dealing with downed wires, many of which were tangled in fallen trees. Several local roads were shut down while power crews worked on removing trees from the roadway.
Motorists are warned to obey all utility and road signs, and to stay away from any trees fallen on or near power lines.
Customers can go to greenmountainpower.com and view the outage map for the latest outage numbers. For more information, the Vermont Emergency Management website is also available.
— Gareth Henderson
Updates will be posted here and on Omni Reporter’s Facebook page.
