NEW: Power Expected to be Restored Across State by Friday
Thursday, November 01, 2012
National Grid continues to work around the clock to restore electricity and natural gas service to customers in Rhode Island who lost service as a result of Hurricane Sandy.
By 2 p.m. on Thursday, National Grid had restored power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses, down from a peak of approximately 122,000. National Grid Rhode Island President Tim Horan expects that service will be restored to the remaining customers by midnight Friday, with possible isolated restorations happening on Saturday where damage is particularly severe. In some cases customers will need to make repairs prior to having service restored.
National Grid crews have been working around the clock to bring electric service back, restoring 40,000 customers in the first 12 hours and 50 percent of customers in the first 24 hours.
National Grid also is restoring natural gas service to customers in Newport and Westerly after temporarily suspending service Tuesday in parts of both communities as a precaution while the system was evaluated to ensure it had not been compromised by the storm. Many customers in Newport already have had service restored and National Grid crews are out in force going door-to-door to restore service to the remaining customers. Technicians must enter each affected building to relight all gas appliances.
In the Misquamicut Beach area of Westerly, the natural gas distribution system was heavily damaged by coast flooding. National Grid is working with state and local officials to develop a plan for the reconstruction of that area. Natural gas service that was interrupted in other parts of the community is being restored as electric power returns.
“We are truly grateful to state and local officials whose help and support has been invaluable in expediting the restoration process, especially in areas where our system and other infrastructure has been severely damaged,” said Timothy F. Horan, president, National Grid Rhode Island. “For some of our customers, recovering from Sandy’s devastation will be slow and challenging. We will work with community officials to rebuild our infrastructure in Westerly together as quickly, efficiently and safely as possible.”
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