Strong winds, downed trees knock out power to thousands in Merrimack Valley
ANDOVER - Wind and rain, ripped through the Merrimack Valley, leaving an estimated 17,000 people without power Friday. One of the hardest hit towns is Andover.
"We have approximately a third of the town without power at this point," said Andover Fire Chief Michael Mansfield.
National Grid estimates power may not be fully restored in Andover until 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve. They acknowledge that some homes may be dark into next week. Just one power pole can take up to seven hours to replace.
"There was a pole that's leaning, a tree that was dead knocked over the pole, knocked over the wire," said Bill Malee, VP of Emergency Planning at National Grid.
The heavy winds grounded power crews, leaving National Grid without the ability to use their bucket trucks.
"We have over 2,000 employees actually across the state restoring power. We have a really good size workforce out there restoring power," Malee said. "We have crews from out of state. We have crews from as far away as Texas and Florida."
Temperatures are expected to drop dramatically in the coming hours, leaving some residents scrambling for warmth. The Andover Fire Department is keeping an eye on area nursing homes. "None of them at this point are on backup generators, so that is good, they are all still on the grid," Chief Mansfield said.
Neighbors WBZ spoke with are getting generators out, bracing for the worst.
"I have to make sure I got my refrigerator going," said North Andover resident Dan Dussault. "My holiday roast is on ice. So I'm trying to save that."
National Grid is starting near the highways and then moving out to the hardest hit areas. By 5 p.m. Friday, crews had already restored power to 40,000 customers across the state. As of 11 p.m., more than 40,000 customers in Massachusetts were still without power, according to MEMA.