Power Slowly Coming Back On Line

Update, 3:50 p.m.

Crews are slowly beginning to bring power back to the state and region. According to both Unitil and PSNH, about 24,000 customers in Concord and the capital region are still without power. In New Hampshire, it’s about 170,000. PSNH Tweeted out a new service about storm alerts: “If you’d like occasional storm updates for your area (or a friend’s), text “OUTAGE YourZIPCode” to 24612. Ex: OUTAGE 03101” 

Update, 12:30 p.m.

Gov. Maggie Hassan has issued a statement informing residents that emergency management officials are coordinating the state’s post-storm response including tips on how to stay safe while the power is out.

According to Unitil, PSNH, and Liberty Utilities, about 189,000 customers are without power in New Hampshire at this hour.

In Concord and the capital region, about 27,000 customers are without power.

Update 10:25 a.m., Nov. 27

About 190,000 people in New Hampshire are without power at this time, according to online reports.

PSNH is reporting more than 177,000 of its customers without power.

Unitil, which serves the Concord and Seacoast area, is reporting about 14,000 without power. A spokesman for Unitil told WMUR-TV that if you don’t have power today, you should make other plans for the day.

Crews, according to both Unitil and PSNH, are coming up from Connecticut and down from Canada to assist crews here in the Granite State.

About 32,000 customers are without power in the capital region at this hour.

Update, 10:30 p.m.

Nearly 30,000 customers in the capital region are still without power; nearly 200,000 across the state are also without power due to the snowstorm, according to press reports.

Right now, more than 10,000 customers are without power in Concord, according to Unitil, or about half the city. Bow has almost customers 2,500 without power – nearly 80 percent of the community – with Boscawen at more than 1,000 (63 percent). All of Unitil’s customers in Chichester, Epsom, Hopkinton, Loudon, Salisbury, and Webster are also without power. Right now, Unitil is assessing restoration times at this time.

“Due to the storm severity & widespread damage, we’re assessing damage & won’t know until the storm passes,” the company stated on Twitter at 8:14 p.m. “Crews are working thru the night.”

PSNH is also reporting major outages including two-thirds of its customers Hopkinton (1,955), 87 percent of Warner (1,454), 359 customers in Dunbarton, more than 3,000 in Hooksett, more than 2,000 in Loudon, more than 1,200 in Allenstown, more than 3,100 in Pembroke, 500 in Canterbury and Webster, and more than 400 in Epsom.

Updated, 7:29 p.m.

We’ve now reached the 20,000 mark for outages around Concord and the capital region, according to Unitil and PSNH online outage maps. More than 9,000 customers in Concord, about half of the city, is now without power. All of Allenstown, Chichester, Epsom, and Pembroke are without power due to a fire on Route 28. Nearly all of Webster is without power. Half of Bow and Boscawen are without power. More than three-quarters of Canterbury and Loudon are without power.

Updated, 7 p.m.

There are now around 16,500 customers without power. Concord has jumped up to more than 6,300 without power or nearly a third of the city. Nearly all of Webster is now without power and 15 homes in Salisbury are without power.

Updated, 6:35 p.m.

Outages have now reached about 15,000 in Concord and surrounding communities as another 2,200 customers in Unitil’s service area have lost power in the last 20 minutes. More than 4,500 in Concord are without power. Little Pond Road has been reopened to traffic. It could be another hour before Pleasant Street is open.

Updated, 6:15 p.m.

The back of the envelope count of people without power in Concord and the capital region has reached more than 12,000, according to online reports from Unitil and PSNH. Nearly all of Canterbury is without power. About 1,000 customers in Loudon are also without power. About 250 Chichester and 600+ in Hopkinton are also without power.

Updated, 5:45 p.m.

Unitil is now reporting more than 6,600 customers without power in the capital region including more than 2,300 customers in Concord, three-quarters of Bow, half of Boscawen, more than half of Canterbury, and about 60 homes in Loudon.

Updated, 5:33 p.m.

Currently, Pleasant Street from Concord High School to Concord Hospital is closed due to a tree down in the road. Crews are expected to be there to clear it in about an hour. Little Pond Road is also closed between Pond Place Lane and Star Granite for a tree down covering the road. Police don’t know when they will have crews in the area to fix that blockage. Wires, branches, and other small trees are down all over the city.

Updated, 4:50 p.m.

Even though the temps are dropping a bit, the snow is very sticky and heavy, so there are probably going power issues through the night. Unitil is now reporting about 3,600 customers without power. Most of the new outages are in Bow (now at 1,300+) and Concord (about 900). Pembroke now has more than 1,500 without power. Two-thirds of Dunbarton is also out.

Updated, 4:15 p.m.

Unitil is now reporting that more than 2,600 customers are without power in the area including a third of the town of Bow, all of its customers in Dunbarton (119), and 60 percent of Canterbury. More than 600 PSNH customers in Pembroke are now without power.

The first post is below:

The capital region is white with fresh, Thanksgiving Day snow, but the area has also been hit with numerous power outages.

Currently, about 2,000 Unitil and Public Service of New Hampshire customers in the area are without power, according to reports.

The power outages started around 1:30 p.m. when Salisbury was first hit with a small outage of about 13 customers. That outage has since been repaired but others followed.

At around 3 p.m., Unitil’s outage map was reporting that about 160 customers were without power mostly in Bow and some outlying areas. At just before 4 p.m., Unitil began reporting major outages, including half of Boscawen and Canterbury, about 200 customers in Bow, and another 200-plus in Concord. About 30 minutes later, 1,800 Unitil customers were without power.

Restoration time for service is somewhere between dinnertime and late into the evening, according to Unitil.

PSNH is also reporting outages around the area. Half of Epsom is without power. Pembroke has about 340 customers without power. Allenstown, Dunbarton, Hooksett, Hopkinton, Pittsfield, and Weare are also reporting minor outages here and there.

Unitil is advising people to stay away from down power lines and to report outages directly to the company.

Concord NH Patch will update this post as more information becomes available.