PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A storm with powerful wind gusts swept across New England on Monday, knocking out power to thousands across the region and bringing more misery to snow-clobbered Maine.
The winds left more 60,000 homes and businesses in the dark in Massachusetts and caused havoc in Maine, where utility crews were already mopping up after a snowstorm knocked out power to more than a quarter-million customers late last week.
The storm brought gusts of 55 mph in Boston and 56 mph in Worcester in Massachusetts; 46 mph in Manchester, New Hampshire; 48 mph in Providence Rhode Island; and 43 in Bar Harbor, Maine.
An 80 mph gust reported at the Blue Hills Observatory in Milton just south of Boston, officials said.
All of New England saw power outages on Monday, but the bulk of them were in Massachusetts. Eversource and National Grid reported about 59,000 outages combined as of 4 p.m. In Rhode Island, National Grid reported about 5,800 outages by midafternoon. Vermont and New Hampshire also had some scattered power outages.
In Maine, crews from Central Maine Power and Emera Maine were dealing with fresh power outages as their around-the-clock work stretched into a fourth consecutive day.
CMP and Emera Maine started the day with about 20,000 outages from the previous storm, and further progress on Monday was offset by additional power outages caused by the windstorm.
“Our crews continue to work 17 hours and then 7 hours of rest - and then back on. We need to be mindful of safety, especially as they fatigue,” said CMP spokeswoman Catharine Hartnett.
The good news was that it was a fast-moving storm; the winds were expected to die down overnight, officials said.
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