Updated at 3:31 p.m.
Though roads are clearing and water levels are going down, nearly 3,000 Vermonters remain without electricity as of 2:40 p.m on Tuesday. Outage numbers peaked Sunday night at over 10,000, but have been steadily declining throughout Tuesday, according to VTOutages.
Green Mountain Power, which provides power to roughly 280,000 customers across the state, has restored power to roughly 21,000 customers but still has over 1,000 to go as of 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. More than 600 of them are in Washington County, which has seen the brunt of the later flooding.
The utility has had crews fixing lines and poles since flooding started on Monday. In some of the harder hit areas, mainly around Montpelier, their work has had to wait for flood waters to recede, Vice President Kristin Carlson said on Tuesday morning. But in others, mainly areas where there haven’t been major road closures, they have been able to swiftly get power back up.
There is no estimate as to when remaining customers will get reconnected due to the uncertainty of damage, Carlson said. As crews are able to regain access to outage sites, they will be able to assess what needs to be done and develop a timeline.
“Our team is putting in times as they have them,” she said. “We are in direct communication with the communities that are very hard hit.”
Washington Electric Cooperative, which provides power to the outskirts of Montpelier and surrounding towns, reported nearly 500 outages, 4% of all customers, as of just before 3 p.m. That number was down by half from noon on Tuesday.
Crews were out all night trying to restore power, but due to road closures and unsafe conditions, in many areas they “held off until daylight,” according to Director of Operations Dave Kresock. As the rain began to let up Tuesday morning, attention focused on finding alternative routes to outage sites.
Customers reported several outages and a bridge missing in Vershire, a landslide on Rt. 110 in Chelsea that took out several sections of line and other outages in Northfield, Plainfield and Williamstown, among others, Kresock said Tuesday morning.
Once crews are able to access these locations, they should be able to restore electricity soon after, said Kresock. But the unknowns brought on by flood damage make it difficult to predict.
“I really don’t have an estimate at this time,” he said. “Until we get people out there to see what’s going on it’s very difficult to tell how long it’s gonna be.”
Vermont Electric Co-op, which serves the Northern part of Vermont, reported few outages from the flooding, but Energy Service Planner Jake Brown said the utility will be on high alert in the coming days.
The soft soil from rainy conditions combined with expected wind in the coming days could be a recipe for falling trees. If that proves correct, he said, downed power lines and outages are sure to follow.
