80 hours
Sunday night's storm threw quite a punch at New England. High winds and rain enveloped the region, and while many trees had already dropped their leaves there were still many that were fully dressed and targets for the wind. The power (at my house) flipped off and back on twice before disappearing for good at 3AM Monday morning.
The first two days I ventured out on foot only, no driving. There were trees down, some blocking streets, some sitting on top of cars or houses. There were neighborhoods without power sitting next to houses wearing lights. I watched the National Grid web site in an attempt to get a hint as to how long the power would be out. The first prediction I saw said that they expected 100% restoration by 11:45 PM on November 2nd. Yesterday that changed to noon on November 3rd, then changed back to the previous prediction. I kept my fingers crossed, hoping.
I was quite happy to get an email from the YMCA Tuesday night saying that their power had been restored and that they would reopen Wednesday morning. My first stop of the day on Wednesday was the Y - not to exercise but to get a hot shower. That felt good!
Classes at the Y filled my morning today. After finishing up I grabbed a shower then headed home to check the power situation. I was very happy to find that my power was back.
80 hours without power was an eye-opener - I keep thinking about the people in Puerto Rico who have been in an untenable situation for the past six weeks and who likely have many months to go before things return to normal.
As of 6PM, National Grid has restored 98% of Massachusetts customers who lost power as a result of Sunday's high winds. Over 800 crews are working around the clock to restore service to the remaining 4K customers without power. The damage from this severe storm has been one of the most disruptive in recent history, challenging our restoration efforts and the patience of our customers. There were many cases of downed trees – not just limbs – causing broken poles and downed wires. Reconstruction work continues, along with the labor-intensive process of cleaning up tree damage, setting new poles, and repairing wires down.
from National Grid's Outage Central page
There were places to go to sit in warmth and share stories with others. Local libraries were available for sitting, reading, charging electronics as were other community centers.
Having no power makes life challenging. I'm very glad it's back.
after the storm, in Harold Parker State Forest
