Green Mountain Power crews restored power to more than 90,000 customers as crews continue a days-long battle with challenging conditions. Crews in the areas around Royalton, Springfield, Rutland, Wilmington and Brattleboro are still confronting multiple trees and lines down, often in off-road, back country locations.
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Storm Update: We have hundreds of lineworkers restoring power to GMP customers. They're working around the clock in a massive restoration effort that could go into the weekend! The damaging storm knocked out power to about 90,000 GMP customers and new outages are coming in.
Green Mountain Power crews and an army of outside crews have restored power to more than 63,000 customers since a heavy wet snowstorm hit the state late Monday. About 27,000 customers are still without power. Snow continues to fall and more than 2,200 new outages have been reported overnight and this morning and they are still coming.
“The damage is widespread, the conditions are still hazardous, we are still getting new outages,” said Mary Powell, GMP’s president and CEO. “We want our customers to know we are working hard, but given the severe damage over hundreds of miles, getting the job done could take days. Crews spent a lot of time yesterday working with emergency responders just to clear trees and get roads open safely. Crews are making a lot of progress, but in some locations, they’ve restored power only to have more trees knock it out again.”
GMP had prepositioned crews, and brought in crews from out of state before the storm and has hundreds of lineworkers in the field. GMP is focusing crews in those hard hit areas of Central and Southern Vermont where they heavy wet snow encased trees and powerlines. Cooler temperatures overnight held that weight in place, and new snow is adding up.
“We’re getting to the largest, quickest outages to repair first,” said Mike Burke, Chief of GMP Field Operations. “By focusing our resources this way, we’re able to restore power to more customers quickly and safely, but that means some smaller, harder to reach locations will have a longer wait. We also need to repair those lines first, to be able to repair the ones in more remote locations.”
GMP estimates most of the remaining 27,000 customers will have power back on by Friday night if conditions do not deteriorate with new snow today, but some outages may last into Saturday night or Sunday.
Individual towns, Vermont Emergency Management, and the American Red Cross are assessing the need for shelters in areas impacted by extended power outages. GMP is providing those entities with projected restoration times to aid in that assessment.
State emergency officials say individuals who need a place to warm up or charge a cell phone, should contact their town to see if there is a warming or overnight shelter in town. Should there be no local shelter, individuals can call 2-1-1 to find a shelter, or to report their current need. That information is shared with VEM to help determine the areas of greatest need.
GMP is also opening its district offices in Royalton, Brattleboro, Sunderland and Springfield to customers who need food, a place to charge their phone, or a warm spot.
GMP is urging safety. If you don’t have power and can’t be safe in your home, you can reach out to 211 for shelters in your area. Stay away from downed lines and downed trees, they can be hidden by snow. Watch out for power and emergency crews who will be working with large vehicles in narrow, snow-loaded roadways.
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, or signing up online at greenmountainpower.com/textalerts. Customers can also sign up for GMP’s app to report outages with a touch of a finger at the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and search for GMP. Customers may also report outages by calling 1-888-835-4672, or visiting GMP’s Outage Center page at www.greenmountainpower.com.
Video: Rugged Vermont Terrain Makes Power Restoration Tough Work
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Video profile of Mary Powell, Green Mountain Power president and CEO in Springfield, Vermont.
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She should ride around Springfield and view the branches and trees overhanging the power lines. They used to cut the overhanging trees and branches before they fell on the lines. This is called preventative maintanence. It seems the attitude today is “fix it when it breaks.
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