Blackout Friday: Thousands Struggle Without Electricity In NH
NASHUA, N.H. (CBS) - Forget about Black Friday. People without power in New Hampshire are calling it Blackout Friday.
Thousands woke up for a second day still without power, trying to get by as they wait for the lights to come back on.
"Wednesday at about 10:30 it went out," Manchester resident Anne Everitt told WBZ-TV.
Everitt is one of the thousands in the same boat. No power after a nor'easter toppled trees and ripped down power lines with heavy wet snow.
For some, the loss of power meant unlivable situations at home.
"It's cold. Our house was down to 47 degrees this morning," explained Everitt. "We have a well so we can't run water, anything, water pumped out. So no running water, no heat, no power. It's crazy."
In the meantime, Everitt knew where she could get warm in the early morning hours of Black Friday.
The Mall of New Hampshire.
"We are here looking for TVs and I need a new Christmas tree. So that's the big plan for today and of course we will shop for ourselves. I'm with my mom," she said. "We're warming up, it's perfect."
In Nashua, thousands more were without power.
The Red Cross opened up a shelter and it's getting a lot of use, especially from the Travers family, who live just one town over in Hollis. Half the houses still did not have power on Friday afternoon, leaving people searching for normalcy.
"They have just locations where you can go if you're looking for certain things. We're looking for showers. Just a shower," Scott Travers told WBZ.
Electric, phone and cable companies scrambled to restore service, but the Travers family could only guess when the lights would come back on.
"Multi days. Multi days and we don't know if that. We're driving around and all you see is trees on the lines," added Pamela Travers.
According to PSNH, crews restored power to about 100,000 customers during the past two days and they hope to have most everyone back up by early next week.
MORE LOCAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON