6,000 Granite Staters Remain Without Power Due To Blustery Winds

CONCORD, NH — Leap Day 2024 started off with a bang in New Hampshire as dropping temperatures and strong wind, with gusts as high as 50 mph, knocked out power to tens of thousands.

Outages were being reported by Eversource, the state’s largest utility, as well as Unitil and the New Hampshire Electric Co-Op.

At the height of the outages, about 21,000 were without power in the state. Around 6 a.m., New Hampshire Department of Safety’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said about 14,000 customers did not have power.

“If you lose power, keep you and your family safe,” Director Robert Buxton said. “Practice power outage safety. Never run a generator indoors. If you come across downed wires, stay away and call 911.”

As of 8:30 a.m., about 6,000 customers remain without power. Eversource customers in Grantham, Gilford, and Rochester have large outages. Dozens of other outages are less than 100 customers. Unitil is reporting small outages in Concord and the capital region and the Seacoast. All outages are under 100 customers. Restoration times range from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The NHEC reported customers in the Upper Valley, Lakes Region, and North Country communities without power but all communities were less than 150. The company does not report restoration times. Liberty Utilities was not reporting any outages.

Scattered trees, limbs, and wires were down all around the capital region, according to scanner chatter, with fire dispatch reporting alarm activations, too.

The National Weather Service said a wind advisory was in effect through 3 p.m. on Thursday.

The latest weather conditions can be found on the front page of every Patch.com site in the United States, including the 14 New Hampshire Patch news and community websites covering Amherst, Bedford, Concord, Exeter, Hampton, Londonderry, Manchester, Merrimack, Milford, Nashua, North Hampton, Portsmouth, Salem, Windham, and Across NH. Local weather reports for New Hampshire are posted on Sundays and Thursdays. Alerts are published when needed.

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