Eversource, National Grid Make Extra Crews Available For Tropical Storm Henri
BOSTON (CBS) -- Utility companies Eversource and National Grid are preparing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Henri by making extra crews available in New England starting Saturday night. Central and Western Massachusetts are expected to experience significant power outages during the storm.
On Friday, Eversource crews were out searching for low-hanging branches near power lines. On Saturday, the company said it has more than 1,100 crews ready to help out in New England, including some from out-of-state.
"With the continued westward shift in Henri's track over the past 24 hours, we've been positioning crews, equipment and other resources accordingly so that we're ready for the significant, widespread damage we can expect to see from this storm," said Eversource Vice President of Electric Operations Doug Foley.
Eversource said it set up staging areas at the Cape Cod Mall, Cape Cod Community College, and Jordan's Furniture in Framingham on top of its Emergency Operations Centers in Boston, New Bedford, Southborough, Springfield, and Yarmouth. Joint Base Cape Cod will host and feed workers coming from out of state. Eversource is also planning to open its five Emergency Operations Centers in Massachusetts, which are located in Boston, New Bedford, Southborough, Springfield, and Yarmouth.
National Grid says it has more than 3,000 workers ready to go as part of their emergency response team in the state.
"National Grid will continue to prepare for the storm and already has more than 3,100 field-based personnel as part of our emergency response operations. This includes overhead line, forestry, contractors, underground, damage assessment, wires down, transmission, and substation workers," the company said.