Thousands Still Without Power After Mid-October Nor'easter In NH

CONCORD, NH — Nearly 60,000 Granite Staters woke up to no electricity around the state Thursday as a mid-October nor'easter, the first of the year, caused massive power outages for the state's utility companies. The four major power companies in New Hampshire, Eversource, Unitil, the New Hampshire Electric Coop, and Liberty Utilities, at the height of the storm, reported nearly 100,000 customers without power, due to gusty winds during the overnight hours that knocked down trees, tree limbs, and utility poles around the state. The National Weather Service predicted heavy rain of between 1.5 and 3 inches for the central and southern parts of the state from Wednesday night into Thursday morning with wind gusts of up to 50 mphs on the Seacoast.

Forecasters tracked the highest wind gusts during the storm including 125 mph clocked on Mount Washington. Portsmouth spotters reported winds hitting 53 mph while Stratham tracked gusts at 50 mph and Concord hit 49 during the storm. Nashua saw winds as high as 40 mph.

The New Hampshire Department of Safety's Homeland Security Emergency Management division began sharing outage phone numbers at just before 9 p.m. Wednesday as the first part of the storm began to hit the state. The division opened to a "partial activation level," according to Paul Raymond Jr., a community outreach coordinator for the division.

Pine Street - Exeter, NH pic.twitter.com/Ix6x3C2K20
— Unitil (@Unitil) October 17, 2019

"Crews are addressing power outages as quickly as possible," added Jennifer Harper, the director of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management. "If you are without power, call your utility provider. Also, drivers are reminded to use extra caution, go slow, and watch for crews clearing debris."

Emergency management returned to "steady state status" at around 5 p.m. Thursday.

Other public safety officials reported closed streets on Twitter and debris in roadways all around the state, while warning drivers to be careful during the first hours of the morning commute.

This is the type of damage we're seeing across our service areas - broken poles, fallen trees and downed wires - all of which take time to repair and restore. Assume all cables and wires that have fallen or dangling are energized and stay away. Please call 911 to report pic.twitter.com/ZIo7Kgm9Ar
— Unitil (@Unitil) October 17, 2019

Outage Numbers As Of 10 p.m.

Utility companies are reporting around 9,000 customers without power, as crews restore power around the state.

Eversource is reporting about 5,600 still without power including 11 customers in Amherst, 26 in Bedford, 36 in Londonderry, 15 in Merrimack, 53 in Milford, 7 in Nashua, 82 in Portsmouth, and 10 in Windham.

Here are the highest wind gusts in the past few hours. Lots of trees down and power outages. #mewx #nhwx pic.twitter.com/LoFpH5JkaW
— NWS Gray (@NWSGray) October 17, 2019

Eversource reported around 90,000 have had their power restored, mostly due to an investment by the company in "smart switches" that isolates outages and re-routes power to customers.

"Our crews are making good progress and will continue to work until all our customers are restored," said Joe Purington, the vice president of electric operations at the company.

Unitil has around 1,800 customers without power including 3 in Concord, 325 in Exeter, and 279 in Hampton. The company expect to have most power restored by between 8 a.m. on Friday and 1 a.m. on Saturday.

10/17/2019: As of 5:00am, the NH State Emergency Operations Center opened to a partial activation to monitor and support the Nor'easter response. Over 58,000 power outages are reported across the state. Report power outages to your utility provider. #ReadyNH #NHwx #NHAlerts pic.twitter.com/7jdHDgqacX
— NH HSEM (@NH_HSEM) October 17, 2019

NHEC is reporting more than 1,800 without power including 26 in Londonderry.

Liberty Utilities had restored power to all its customers Thursday.

In Concord, classes were cancelled at the Rundlett Middle School and Beaver Meadow Elementary School due to the power outage. Flooding was reported on Borough Road, a tree caused a closure on Fisk Road, and a branch smashed into the front door awning of a home on Warren Street, causing one block of the street to be closed near the McAuliffe Elementary School.

Students are expected to return to Rundlett Friday. Principal Paulette Fitzgerald told parents Thursday afternoon that utility and tree crews were still cleaning up the back parking lot and trying to restore power to the school and neighborhood.

"At this time, we are planning to have school tomorrow," she said in an email. "Should anything change, we'll let you know as soon as we can."

While firefighters and general services teams around the region were called to debris in roadways, capital region fire and rescue teams, including firefighters from Bedford, Bow, Chichester, Concord, Goffstown, Henniker, Hooksett, Hopkinton, Pembroke, and Webster were sent to a three-alarm blaze on Twist Hill Road in Dunbarton.

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