PLYMPTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Thousands of people in Massachusetts remain in the dark and cold after a fall nor’easter created widespread power outages, as officials promised most power would be restored by the end of the weekend.
At the height of the storm, about half a million people were without power and more than 8,500 homes and businesses were without power as of 11 p.m. Saturday, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
“It’s just really frustrating, we thought we’d have it back by now,” said resident Brian Carnes.
“It’s amazing how you appreciate the simple things in life when you don’t have them,” said resident Aaron Hassan.
Gov. Charlie Baker visited storm damage in Marshfield and said crews, many coming in from Canada, were making progress.
“This is obviously an unbelievably messy storm and I think folks have been working around the clock to get where we are now, they’ve made progress and I’m grateful for that, but obviously this has been a huge inconvenience for a bunch of folks and I’m glad this will be done for all intents and purposes before Halloween,” Baker said.
Eversource officials say crews are working around the clock to restore power Saturday, noting they “are in the late stages of the restoration process where the final outages often call for extensive repairs that are labor-intensive and time-consuming.”
“I know it’s frustrating, being without power for multiple days is just very frustrating, all the families, electronics,” said Eversource Massachusetts president Craig Hallstron. “It’s tough to provide good updates at the beginning because of the devastation but as we go on we can provide more granular updates and that’s where we’ve gotten the last couple of days.”
Approximately 10 percent of people in the town of Plympton are still in the dark, down from 87 percent on Friday after wicked winds ripped through the town during the nor’easter.
“There is, in my estimation, no real solution in sight for that,” said Plympton Fire Chief Stephen Silva on Friday.
As there is no public water supply in the town, residents rely on private wells and, without power, they are unable to pump water from the ground.
“It’s tough to see it taking this long, because we’ve had worse storms than this and usually it takes a day or two,” said Paul Cerone, owner of “the Barker House,” a dog day care center in Plympton.
Cape Cod and the Islands, along with southeastern Mass., felt the brunt of the strong winds during the fall nor’easter that lasted from Tuesday to Wednesday.
The highest gust of the storm was recorded at 94 mph at a ferry dock on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, officials said.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)