BOSTON — Utility crews were busy restoring power to tens of thousands of customers in New England and New York states Saturday after a severe storm dumped nearly two feet of snow in some areas.
More than 160,000 New England customers were left in the dark since afternoon and another 20,000 were still without power in New York when heavy snow blew tree limbs onto power lines, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages across the United States.
The fall of snow affected the restoration of electrical service in some areas, which made travel dangerous. Doug Foley, president of electrical operations for Eversource in New Hampshire, said snow-covered roads made it difficult for workers to reach communities to assess damage and make repairs.
“We are still experiencing system damage in areas of the state where snow continues to fall, and hundreds of additional crews of workers are heading to New Hampshire to assist with our restoration efforts,” Foley said in an emailed statement.
As of Saturday afternoon, Eversource had restored power to about 61,000 customers in New Hampshire since the start of the storm, but another 40,000 remained without service, according to the utility.
Green Mountain Power, which serves customers in Vermont, said more power outages were possible in the state and temperatures are not expected to warm enough in the coming days to melt the snow.
“Removing downed trees to reach areas without power has been slow and cumbersome,” Mike Burke, vice president of field operations for the utility company, said in a statement.