March 28, 2024
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Cape Cod outages continue after storm

DENNIS, Mass. – Some Cape Cod residents faced a third night without electricity as crews from throughout New England worked around the clock to restore power knocked out by a powerful winter storm.

About 3,600 NStar customers scattered throughout the Cape were without power Tuesday night, more than a full day after the storm moved out to sea, leaving behind a foot and a half of snow.

The utility expected most to have their electricity back Tuesday night, but “there’ll be a few people [still without power] going into Wednesday,” NStar spokeswoman Christina McKenna said.

NStar brought in additional contractors from Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island. They worked through Monday night, finding and repairing downed power lines and utility poles toppled by the combination of wet, heavy snow and high winds. Their progress was slowed by impassable roads that could not be plowed because of fallen trees.

“The system sustained a lot of damage in a short amount of time,” McKenna said. “These are scattered outages, some of them are remote areas. … There’s an army of about 500 people spread out down there putting the system back up.”

For many, no electricity meant no heat – a potentially dangerous predicament as overnight temperatures dipped into the single digits. Several Cape towns opened temporary shelters. But Harwich police said just four people used the shelter at the town’s Community Center on Monday night.

Many roadways remained packed with snow and ice Tuesday afternoon, making travel difficult. Portions of Route 28, a major artery on Cape Cod, was still covered with several inches of a hard snow and ice pack.

Along a secondary road in the town of Harwich, cars drove over utility lines that had been down since early Monday.

The powerful coastal storm – the first of the winter – began Sunday and left thousands of residents across eastern Massachusetts digging out and stranded travelers before winding down on Monday. Brewster, on Cape Cod, had 18 inches, while 17 inches fell in Rowley, about 30 miles northeast of Boston.

Correction: A shorter version of this article ran in the Coastal edition.

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