Snow, Wind Knocks Out Power for Thousands on Seacoast
As heavy snow falls across the Seacoast region, several thousand customers are without power.
The snow combined with winds gusting out of northeast at 55 mph is bringing down trees and branches onto power lines. Winds will be at their strongest for several hours late Tuesday afternoon into the evening.
The snow is expected to continue falling all night into Wednesday morning and taper off around noon.
Power outages as of 8:35 p.m. Tuesday:
- Eversource has approximately 55,687 customers without power statewide, including over 1,500 in Portsmouth and Rye, Somersworth, and Strafford on the Seacoast
- Central Maine Power has 4,449 customers in York County without power, mostly in Alfred and Hollis
- New Hampshire Electric Co-op has over 10,800 customers without power statewide, including Barnstead and Raymond
- Unitil had 1,020 total customers without power, mostly in Exeter and Hampton on the Seacoast
Three tractor trailers had problems crossing the northbound Piscataqua River Bridge on the high rise of the bridge late Thursday afternoon, according to Maine State Police. They created a backup into Portsmouth while they crept on the snow covered highway.
“We’re coordinating closely with our communities and public safety officials to respond to blocked roads and other critical safety priorities, and we thank our customers for their understanding as our more than 800 line, tree and service crews safely work to respond to issues and repair damage during the persistent challenging conditions from this Nor’easter," Eversource New Hampshire President of Electric Operations Doug Foley said.
Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH