MEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - The brutal heat has caused power problems in several communities including Medford and Acton.
While power is slowly coming back in Medford after crews worked overnight, many were left without power in Acton throughout the day Wednesday, leaving households without air conditioning and forcing some businesses to close their doors.
29% of the town’s power customers, or 3,000, were still without power as of 10 p.m., down from a peak of 70% earlier in the day.
“The stress is not knowing when the power will come back on,” said resident Tim O’Korean. “You have to worry about the fridge, the AC and everything… if you have pets, you have to worry about them overheating and stuff.”
Affected customers included businesses such as a Trader Joe’s, which turned away people through the day such as resident Tim O’Koren, whose own home only lost power briefly.
“It’s a little concerning that it’s now out,” O’Koren said. “Hopefully it goes back on because you don’t want to lose any product and people need the food.”
Next door, the Elizabeth Grady hair salon found itself having to cut some services short, canceling appointments for the rest of the day because of the blackout.
“All of a sudden, all of the lights went out and the alarms were beeping,” said Jenna Crisostamo. “We had a lot of customers. We had a lot of people that we had to cancel for the day. … We’re gonna have to get in touch with them tomorrow to see if we can get them in before the end of the week.”
Nearly 11,000 customers were affected by the blackout in some way, according to Eversource.
Eversource said it has brought in 10 large truck-based power generators overnight to help restore power in Acton.
The cause was believed to be a heat-related issue. It is unclear when the last of the outages will come to an end.
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