More Than 170,000 Electric Customers Lose Power In New Hampshire

CONCORD, NH — More than 130,000 Granite State electric customers were without power on Thursday morning after heavy, wet snow blanketed the state, knocking down trees and utility poles.

During the overnight hours, at least 7 inches of snow fell in Concord. Weather spotters across the state report smaller and larger snow accumulation numbers across New Hampshire. Around 6 a.m., snow turned to sleet and freezing rain in Concord.

Concord and the capital region firefighters and police have been dealing with blocked roads across the county as well as exploding transformers.

About 7 inches of snow fell in the West End of Concord on April 4.

At 3 p.m., Eversource, the state’s largest utility, reported nearly 111,000 customers without power. Unitil reported more than 15,000 customers out. More than 46,000 New Hampshire Electric Co-Op customers were also without power. Liberty Utilities was reporting no customers without power on its outage map.

“This spring nor’easter is a long-duration event for our region,” Unitil External Affairs Director Alec O’Meara said. “Overnight we experienced heavy, wet snow and a rain/snow mix in combination with high winds over 45-50 mph. With conditions like these expected to continue throughout the day our crews will be working closely with municipal officials on public safety issues such as wires down and road closures due to broken tree limbs and restoring power where they can. The continued high winds can create challenges and slow restoration as bucket trucks cannot safely extend their arms in wind speeds over 35 mph. We urge caution for anyone who has to be on the road during this storm.”

The New Hampshire Department of Safety’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management team has activated the State Emergency Operations Center. State officials said the enhanced monitoring was “to support local communities who may need assistance, including those who have significant power outages.” Director Robert Buxton warned residents to keep themselves and their their families safe if they lose power at home.

“Practice power outage safety,” he said. “Never run a generator indoors. If you come across downed wires, stay away and call 911. If you haven’t lost power yet, take time to prepare you and your family for a possible outage as the storm continues.”

Report power outages to your utility provider every 24 hours until it is restored:

• Eversource: 1-800-662-7764
• Liberty Utilities: 1-855-349-9455
• NH Electric Co-Op: 1-800-343-6432
• Unitil: 1-888-301-7700

Buxton also made the following safety recommendations:

• Stay informed by signing up for NH Alerts and monitoring National Weather Service radio or broadcast weather reports.
• Find the latest road conditions at newengland511.org.
• Slow down and move over for emergency vehicles and never crowd the plow.
• Clear all snow and ice off your car, including your roof, around lights, and license plates before traveling.
• Only use a generator that has been wired to the house electrical service by a professional electrician.

Learn more about power outage safety at ReadyNH.gov.

In Nashua, a truck crashed into a highway sign on the Everett Turnpike, closing both sides of the highway on Thursday.

New Hampshire Patch will be updating this post throughout the storm.

Do you have a news tip? Please email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel. Follow the NH politics Twitter account @NHPatchPolitics for all our campaign coverage.