More outages possible in ice-ravaged Northeast
JAFFREY, New Hampshire (AP) – Joined by people seeking shelter from the bitter cold, parishioners at the Jaffrey Bible Church on Sunday thanked God for a warm place to sleep and for the utility crews struggling to repair power lines snapped by the devastating ice storm that hit the northeastern New England states.
“Your fellow Jaffrey residents have stepped up and made this a more bearable situation,” Walt Pryor, recreation department director for the town of 5,700, told the congregation of about 150 people Sunday morning.
The church in the town, 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Massachusetts state line, had been turned into a shelter, with cots and mattresses set up in offices and hallways, and televisions and 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles for children in the basement. Donated food was plentiful, including lobster casserole, pot roast, and barbecued chicken.
The ice storm knocked out electrical service for 1.4 million homes and businesses late last week. Roughly 649,000 customers were still without power Sunday morning in upstate New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Utilities in hardest-hit New Hampshire said power might not be totally restored to the region until Thursday or Friday.
Officials warned there could be more outages as drooping branches shed ice and snap back to their original positions, potentially taking out more power lines.
President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency for New Hampshire and nine of Massachusetts’ 14 counties, directing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide relief assistance.
Adding to the misery of downed power lines and property damage, temperatures dropped into the teens and 20s Fahrenheit (from -10 to -1 Celsius) early Sunday, with single-digit readings (temperatures from -17 to -13 C) in parts of New Hampshire and Maine. Fryeburg, Maine, hit a low of just 2 degrees above zero F (-16.5 C). Warmer weather was on the way for Monday.
The number of people at shelters in Massachusetts nearly doubled to 1,800 Saturday night as people faced another night without lights and heat. Nearly 1,300 people stayed at 56 shelters in New Hampshire.
Crews across the region reported the ice had destroyed utility poles, wires and other equipment, but said the extent of damage was unclear because some roads still were impassable.
About 300 National Guardsmen were deployed in New Hampshire, mostly in Stoddard, 27 miles (43 kilometers) north of Jaffrey, to help with debris cleanup.
Despite the difficulties, utilities were making progress with help from utility crews from Canada and as far away as Virginia and Michigan.
In New Hampshire, about 233,000 homes and businesses were still blacked out Sunday, down from a peak of 430,000 on Friday, utilities reported.
In Massachusetts, about 162,000 homes and businesses remained dark Sunday, down from 350,000 at the height of the storm. In Maine, about 85,000 customers had no electricity, down from more than 220,000. In Vermont, about 10,500 customers were waiting for service, down from about 40,000.
Emergency management officials reported four storm-related deaths. One man in New Hampshire and a couple in New York state died of carbon monoxide poisoning from home generators. The body of a Massachusetts public works supervisor who went missing while checking on storm damage was recovered from a reservoir