Crews Working Around the Clock to Restore Power to Remaining 4,800 Customers
Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) crews made significant progress restoring power after a Nor’Easter socked the region Wednesday night packing strong winds that did more damage than forecasted. GMP crews and 30 external crews have been working non-stop to get the lights back on, restoring power to more than 25,000 customers. About 4,800 customers are still without power while new outages continue to be reported from the storm, mostly in southwestern Vermont. Crews are working around the clock, and expect the majority of customers will be back on by Friday afternoon. Isolated damage in some of the worst hit areas could take into the weekend. Throughout the Northeast region, more than 600,000 were without power because of the storm earlier Wednesday.
GMP Twitter photo of a house hit by a falling pine tree.
“We are so pleased to have restored power to so many customers after this storm hit, and our focus is getting the lights back on for everyone. Our crews are working as quickly and safely as they can as they are encountering lots of trees down, lots of damage – dozens of broken poles,” said Mike Burke, Chief Field Operations Executive at GMP. “We will be working around the clock to get all customers back on as quickly and as safely as possible.”
One customer from Sunderland described the damage in her area as looking like “a war zone,” and called GMP to say thank you even though her own power was still out. “She wanted to say thank you to all the Customer Service reps, line crews, and everyone working to get her power back on. She said that she went for a drive and it looks like a war zone out there so she knows that we have our work cut out for us,” said Holly Bruso, the GMP Customer Service Representative who took that call. “Those calls mean so much to the team, as we are all here to serve our customers and provide them the best information we have.”
GMP only posts estimated restoration times when crews have seen the damage and actually know how long repairs will take. “A wind advisory is still in effect into this evening and because new outages have been happening throughout the day as the weather event continues, getting exact restoration times for all customers has been challenging. We urge customers to stay safe as the storm continues,” Burke said.
GMP is reminding customers to stay away from downed lines and trees, and to report outages by calling 888-835-4672 or online https://outages.greenmountainpower.com. If there is a medical emergency always call 911.
Source: COLCHESTER, Vt. – Green Mountain Power 10.17.2019