High winds knock out power in Springfield area

Winds as high as 85 miles per hour from a storm on Monday resulted in approximately 20,000 customers being without power throughout Vermont and more than 5,000 of them were in the Springfield area.

   

2016-03-02 / Front Page High winds knock out power in Springfield area By Nancy A. Cavanaugh ncavanaugh@eagletimes.com SPRINGFIELD — Winds as high as 85 miles per hour from a storm on Monday resulted in approximately 20,000 customers being without power throughout Vermont, according to Green Mountain Power (GMP). More than 5,500 customers were in the Springfield area. By 4 p.m. on Tuesday, there were still approximately 500 without power. “We had 100 separate instances,” said Dorothy Schnure, spokesperson for GMP. “We had to call in additional crews. We needed a lot of people helping — crews from northern Vermont as well as Burlington Electric and Vermont Electric Cooperative. Schnure recommended that those with medically-necessary equipment have a backup plan. More high winds and outages are expected overnight on Tuesday. GMP have been making preparations. “We watch the weather and start to plan by having additional crews,” said Schnure. “We make sure supplies are ready. “We also have a group of assessors that go out to identify where the problems are so the line crews don’t waste time looking for the problem. When they find it, then a crew gets sent directly to the problem,” she continued. In addition, GMP has groups around the state that make sure line crews have meals available to them. “This eliminates [line crews] having to run around looking for food,” said Schnure. Green Mountain Power will provide updates on the storm on Facebook, Twitter and to the media. To get the latest information on outages and restoration times, customers can sign up for text service alerts by texting REG to 46788 or GMPVT. Customers may also report outages by calling 1-888-835-4672.