Outages Peaked at 16,000, City Announces Tree Limb Pick-Up

When will the power come back on?

Update Tuesday Aug. 30 9:50 a.m.: 7,632 customers in Cranston are without power.

That has been the question of the day for more than half of Cranston's residents today. According to National Grid, 16,000 of the city's 35,000 National Grid customers are without power.

At noon today, there were still more than 20 traffic lights without power and roads that were blocked to some degree by toppled trees, according to the mayor's office.

And those lucky enough to have electricity might not have cable, Internet or telephone service yet — an indication of the depth of the damage inflicted upon the state's electrical and communications grid.

National Grid Spokesman David Graves said this morning that the utility is working around the clock to restore power to everyone as quickly as possible but noted some people could be without power for days.

"This storm caused colossal damage," Graves said. "We literally have to rebuild the grid from the ground up."

In a release, Cox Communications said it has 500 workers out in the field trying to make repairs and restore service to customers. The company expects 90 percent of its customers to be back in action by Sept. 1. For hard core couch potatoes, that's a bitter pill to swallow.

The real frustration among residents is the lack of power. Even Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung is frustrated.

"I have no power at my house so I'm as frustrated as everyone else," he said from his City Hall office.

The mayor's Facebook page has become a soundboard for residents to describe their particular issues to the mayor, such as Valerie Vacca, who lives on Fairwood Drive and said an entire tree took down the power lines and is blocking the road.

"The police dept said that it could be the weekend before they get to it," she said. "I could see the delay in receiving power but removing the tree and the line seems like it should be a priority. We have a lot of kids on this street."

The power is out across the city, although western Cranston was hit especially hard, along with Meshanticut Lake and Oaklawn. A drive through the city tells the tale; one neighborhood will be all lit up with open signs, the next neighborhood a darkened stretch of useless traffic lights.

On the bright side, region will be blessed with terrific weather over the next few days, ideal for cleaning up after the storm.

The city announced it will haul away branches and debris that are placed curbside, but whole trees, tree stumps and construction debris will not be removed. 

Residents are also reminded that trash pickup has been delayed by one day this week.

There have been a few instances of one resident's fallen tree ending up in a neighbor's yard after crews pushed it aside to clear the roadway. Fung said that crews will be going back to remove those trees and people will not be responsible for their removal.

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For a real-time map of National Grid power outages, check out the utility's storm center website.