Storm leaves thousands in Vt. without power
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Snow sprays a Central Vermont Public Service lineman as he cuts a branch with a chainsaw Friday on Killington Avenue, where power was knocked out by the storm. Vyto Starinskas / Rutland Herald |
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By Brent Curtis, Susan Smallheer and Josh O'Gorman Herald Staff - Published: December 13, 2008
Thousands of Vermonters went without power Friday and hundreds, if not thousands, will remain without electricity today and Sunday due to a storm that dumped a mixture of ice, sleet and snow over the southern part of the state.
"Statewide, we're thinking it could be until Monday before everyone is turned back on," Central Vermont Public Service spokeswoman Christine Rivers said late Friday afternoon. "We have a lot of one or two house outages and those will take the longest to restore."
The bulk of the more than 30,000 CVPS outages reported throughout the day were located in Windsor and Windham counties, Rivers said. But thousands of the utility's customers in Rutland, Bennington and Orange counties also lost power.
Green Mountain Power customers were also hard hit, with as many as 8,000 customers reporting outages throughout the day.
By day's end, Dorothy Schnure, a spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power, said crews had restored power to all but 2,000 customers.
The storm started Thursday night and continued into Friday, bringing freezing rain, sleet and snow that hampered travel, closed schools and left 1.25 million homes and businesses without power in seven states.
Though blue skies appeared in some areas by Friday afternoon, temperatures were expected to fall below freezing again, with single digits forecast for Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire tonight.
At least one death was related to the storm: New Hampshire officials said a 49-year-old Danville man who lived in a camper died of carbon monoxide poisoning after turning on his portable generator when his power went out Thursday night.
No injuries or deaths were reported in Vermont on Friday, according to emergency management officials and hospital representatives in the affected areas.
CVPS crews had help from 34 contract crews Friday. But Rivers said the bulk of the cavalry would be coming to the rescue this morning when 51 crews from western Pennsylvania and other areas were expected to arrive.
While help was on the way Friday, it wasn't coming in time to keep many Vermonters from having to leave their homes in search of warmer lodging.
To give residents whose power and heat were lost a place to go, Vermont Emergency Management and local officials opened temporary shelters at Putney Central School in Putney, Springfield High School in Springfield, Twin Valley Union High School in Wilmington and Hartford High School in Hartford.
Springfield Fire Chief Russell Thompson said that in addition to giving people a warm place to stay the shelter would serve people supper and breakfast, and could remain open all weekend if there was a need.
Emergency Management officials said more shelters would be opened as needed and residents in search of a warm place to stay should call 211 for shelter information.
Windham County saw the extremes of the storm: Downtown Brattleboro was drenched with rain Thursday night and Friday morning, and saw only a tiny glazing of ice that melted in the morning sun.
But up in the Green Mountains west of Brattleboro, thousands of ice-encased trees crashed to the ground, pulling power lines and poles with them and leaving people in cold, dark homes.
Southern Vermont's main east-west corridor, Route 9 between Brattleboro and Bennington was closed all day, and Vermont State Police said they hoped the road would reopen today. State Police set up detours along small dirt roads.
Mount Snow Ski Area was closed for the day, along with other southern Vermont ski areas such as Okemo Mountain, because of the power outages.
The storm also closed the trails at the Killington Ski Area Friday. The resort lost power 20 minutes before the lifts were due to open at 9 a.m., resort spokesman Tom Horrocks said.
Power was restored before noon, but by then ice buildup on the tow cables prompted officials to close the trails until the lifts could be checked.
In Windsor County, Springfield Town Manager Robert Forguites said he had headed to a meeting in Ascutney at noontime and had been turned back because Weathersfield Center Road was closed north of the Wellwood Orchards.
Rockingham's highway chief Michael Hindes said the town had gotten through the storm with minimum damage, although by the end of Friday, several of Rockingham's roads still weren't open because of trees and downed power lines.
Hindes said he and another town crew worker were on Rockingham Hill Road cutting up a dozen downed trees, listening to trees falling in the woods, when another tree came crashing down right next to them.
"I can tell you the hair on the back of my neck stood right up," Hindes said. "It was awfully scary."
Green Mountain Power's Schnure said this week's ice storm differed from the devastating 1998 ice storm, which crippled the northern section of the state.
This time, the valleys escaped with a dose of cold rain and the higher elevations turned icy. Back then, she said, it was the valleys that got iced and the higher elevations got snow.
"It's never the same," she said.
Elsewhere around Windsor County, residents were hunkering down or helping each other out.
"We haven't really had a lot of outages," said Hartland's Town Clerk Clyde Jenne. "When I grew up, we had a wood stove and planned ahead. Imagine that."
Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.