FALMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - Utility companies continued preparations Friday for the possibility of power outages across southeastern Massachusetts as Hurricane Lee makes its approach toward waters off New England’s coast.
Eversource crews were fanning out across the region on Thursday, noting communities on Cape Cod and areas including Plymouth and Marshfield are among those that may see tree damage as Lee delivers a glancing blow.
“Those are our biggest areas of concern,” said Eversource President of Regional Electric Operations Craig Hallstrom.
Eversource said it had more than 400 line crews prepared to help as of Friday morning.
By Friday night, officials said they will have emergency operations centers up and running from Yarmouth to Springfield.
With gusty wind in the forecast after recent rain, officials said they are especially concerned about the chance of downed trees and branches.
“The earth kind of gets saturated with water,” Hallstrom said. “The roots of the trees have a harder time keeping those trees up in strong gusts.”
Eversource officials said they have brought in about 200 tree crews, some of whom got to work this week trimming branches in Barnstable to prevent them from blowing down and damaging utility infrastructure once Lee’s wind arrives.
Still preparing for the storm, officials recently reminded community members of the danger downed wires could pose.
“Never ever touch a wire, be it electric, cable or telephone until we come and prove it’s deenergized,” Hallstrom said.
Forecasts on Friday projected peak wind gusts potentially as high as 70 miles per hour on the mid- to outer Cape and Nantucket, with lesser gusts further west as Lee makes its closest approach to the region roughly 150 miles east of Chatham on Saturday.
A widespread area of coastline throughout New England could see between one and three feet of storm surge.
Rain from Lee is expected to be light though much of Massachusetts, though part of Cape Cod could receive between one and three inches of total rain.
The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning for some communities on Thursday morning, later expanding the warning to include a large stretch of coastline in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
By Friday morning, a coastal flood warning was also in place for Cape Cod and Nantucket, warning of minor to moderate flooding with high tides around 1 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday.
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