Vermont Business Magazine After forceful winds up to 90 mph that blew thru the state, Green Mountain Power crews have restored power to more than 20,000 customers. Crews will work through the night to complete repairs from the wind damage for the 170 remaining without power at7 p.m.Current forecasts indicate another bout of severe weather arriving Tuesday evening and into the early morning hours, with snow, sleet, freezing rain and elevated winds. Green Mountain Power is preparing for possible new outages that could develop from the second round of the storm.
A downed powerline in Dorset. GMP photo.
“The winds caused an incredible amount of damage, blowing down trees and tree branches and knocking down poles,” said Dorothy Schnure, spokesperson for Green Mountain Power. “Crews made great progress safely restoring power to almost all customers, and will work until everyone has their power back.”
“A full complement of GMP crews tackled today’s outages with help from Burlington Electric Department and Vermont Electric Cooperative, and we have brought in additional crews from out of state to support them as the second wave of this storm hits the state,” Schnure said. “We are positioning the crews in areas expected to see the most damagetonightso that they are ready to respond quickly.”
This morning’s storm affected southeastern Vermont most severely, largely in Springfield, Brattleboro and Royalton areas, whiletonight’sstorm is forecasted to affect the entire state.
“Safety for our customers and crews is critical, especially when we have weather that could cause damage for days in a row,” said Schnure. “We remind people to stay away from downed power lines. Our crews are working as quickly and safely as possible, and for everyone’s safety, we remind them to stay away from downed lines and report any that they see.”
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, or signing up online atgreenmountainpower.com/
Green Mountain Power (GMP) serves approximately 265,000 residential and business customers in Vermont and has a vision to be the best small company in America by partnering with Vermonters to improve lives and transform communities.