NH State of Emergency (2/26/10)

State of Emergency declared for NH (and probably other NE states):

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100226/NEWS03/100229992/1030

L@@k at this too:

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_wv_us.gif

Woke up this morning with no power so I fled to Brookline (MA). Seems that there has been a HUGE outage in my area, 95.9% of households affected in Thornton, and 100% in Waterville Valley at this time: NHEC Outage Map. Friends tell me that they hear that it will take a few days to restore power fully

Note: There is a very big discrepancy between the numbers in the table at the left of the map and the numbers on the balloons

Mohamed -

I read on the 'net this morning that even NH's emergency management center was running on a generator.

Kevin

Kevin Rooney said:

I read on the 'net this morning that even NH's emergency management center was running on a generator.

Click to expand...

The area of Concord near downtown is still out as of 6 pm (since midnight), fortunately I was at a class out of town all day

Wonder if they will declare a microburst - the street out front was full of sticks and pieces of shingle and 2 streets over was blocked by a downed tree

It is quite different when an urban area with many underground feeds is out as compared to multiple rural areas where the lines are among trees

My wildest drive ever up I-93 late last night; branches, large limbs, and even whole trees on highway in the MA/NH border area to N of Concord; most friends in that area are still without power. I lucked out in Thornton, as apparently the power was off for less than 10 minutes sometime before I arrived at 2 am. Needless to say, all rain at 600 ft asl in Thornton, but I did see new snow on Welch and Dickey this afternoon. Nice sunset this evening, so will try some western summits tomorrow and Sunday.

Woke up at 4 am this morning with no power in Holderness, NH. Around my house there was 1/2 inch of slush. Drove the 1.5 miles into Plymouth, NH and the town had full power. Left for Manchester at 7 am and had a detour to get to the airport due to a downed tree on Brown Avenue. Lots of traffic signals out on Brown Ave. but S. Willow (a mile away) had power. On 101 East lots of billboards down and business signs blown apart. In Epping the traffic signals were out. Durham and UNH were without power. On Rt. 4 we had a 15 minute stop while a crew cleared a tree off a powerline in Northwood. EMS Concord was open on schedule with full power. Home to Holderness and still no power. Using the generator (brand new $700, at Rand's in Plymouth) to type this.

Campton (right next to Thornton):

Got lucky. Drove up last night in pouring rain but arrived at 10pm, just before the worst of the wind kicked in. Power went off and on multiple times last night but we still have it today.

Any Thornton residents without electricity who need a place to stay over the next few days -- pm me. We ain't got much, but the heat and appliances work.

Mohamed Ellozy said:

Woke up this morning with no power so I fled to Brookline (MA).

Click to expand...

Yeah, we still have power, but there's a car just outside our bedroom window that has an oversensitive alarm. Every gust of wind....!

Civilization has its price.

from PSNH Website-

Outage Update 2/26/2010 9:00 p.m.
Crews will be working through the night to restore service to PSNH customers who lost power in last night’s devastating wind storm. As of 9:00 p.m., PSNH reports that approximately 256,000 PSNH customers (51 percent) are without power, down from a peak of about 265,000 outages earlier this evening.

Although power outages are widespread throughout the state, the Seacoast and Southern regions of New Hampshire were hit hardest by this storm. Wind speeds above 60 mph were recorded in both regions, with gusts reaching 91 mph in Portsmouth, NH.

PSNH currently has about 266 line and tree-trimming crews working to assess damage, clear debris, and restore power. Crews arrived earlier today from PSNH’s sister utility, Connecticut Light & Power, as well as multiple contractors.

An additional 310 crews will be arriving from Maryland, Michigan, and Pennsylvania within 24 hours.



10,000 fixed with 256,000 to go. Two years ago it took 10 days to get power back, hope this time not nearly as long..........

In Pelham (NH): awakened at midnight last night to explosions on the power lines across from my house: a tree on the wires burned (large flames and sparks) ALL NIGHT LONG (so I didn't need a flashlight). Fire dept dropped by and drove away. One neighbor's car was crushed by 2 dropped trees. Another neighbor lost both >30ft front yard fir trees. What a mess!

I was fortunate to escape with the cold kitty-cats to family in Bristol!!!! Seems like we've been through this before!!!

I live five minutes within Welsh/Dickey Trailhead and lost power around 11pm Thursday night and got power back last night [Friday] around 11pm.

We received about 2 inches of new snow overnight and Sandwich Mountain is enclosed in clouds. Off to hike up Jennings Peak and will post trail conditions when I return.

Got power back at the house in Thornton aound 1:30am. It is currently snowing. Sue got called into work so might head out to hike Welsh/Dickey.

Power was back on in downtown Concord yesterday maybe 8 pm, that is 20 hours or worst I remember in 40 years there

Not many posts last couple days, it must have hit a lot of people worse - anybody in central NH that needs help send me an e-mail

Franconia's power, PSNH and NHEC, was completely restored by last night, I believe, and all roads appear to be free of storm debris today. We've had so many wind storms this winter that most of the older and weaker white pines have come down, although that can open up new channels for wind to reach other trees. I saw big trees down on roofs in the wind storm of several weeks ago but none yet from this one. Peak gusts in the valleys here were probably in the 50-60 mph range, not 91 like Portsmouth. Minimal blowdowns on the one forest road I ventured onto late yesterday.

Bedford (NH) is mostly without power. We have a generator from 2008, and I got the house wired with a transfer switch so we're warm and have running water and the sewer pump works. Took a hot shower today . And, the cable is back so we have internet access.

The wire that brings power to my house is snapped in 3 places down the street - an entire section is lying on the ground.

Tim

Absolutely crazy wind Thursday night. I've never heard it howl like that in the low elevations, and with Manchester getting near 70 mph, I believe it!! We lost power for about 24 hours, and I have limited access with the internet. The best part of this storm...we had 6-7 inches of beautiful snow today.

I took a walk in the woods yesterday and there were LOTS of trees down....also the ones still standing were making loud noises, so I cut my walk short. When I get full internet access back, I'll post some pics. This was the windiest storm of my life...windier than The Blizzard of 1993, and windier than HUrricane Bob.

I belatedly read an AP article from Thursday in which the NWS was berating Weather Underground for calling the upcoming storm a snowcane with winds that might exceed 50 mph - it was inciting unnecessary panic

Sorry but don't have a link

I thought I was done cutting wood for the season......

Pics...

I took a walk in the woods after the storm (not really a great idea) but I was able to get some nice pics of the downed trees. Here they are:















Spring is on the way!?


At least some snow came down, to cover the ugliness up