Winter storm leaves thousands of customers without power in New York and New England

BOSTON — Utility crews were busy restoring power to tens of thousands of customers in New England and New York on Saturday after a severe storm dumped snow in some areas.

More than 160,000 customers in New England have been in the dark since the afternoon, and another 20,000 were left without power in New York when heavy snow knocked down tree limbs on power lines, according to the British Guardian newspaper. Power Outagewhich tracks power outages across the United States.

Snowfall affected the restoration of electrical service in some areas, making travel risky. Snow-covered roads made it difficult for workers to reach communities to assess damage and make repairs, said Doug Foley, president of electrical operations for Eversource in New Hampshire.

“We continue to experience system damage in areas of the state where snow continues to fall, and hundreds of additional crews of workers are heading to New Hampshire to assist with our restoration efforts,” Foley said in an emailed statement.

As of Saturday afternoon, Eversource had restored power to about 61,000 customers in New Hampshire since the storm began, but another 40,000 were left without service, according to the utility.

Green Mountain Power, which serves customers in Vermont, said more power outages were possible in the state and temperatures are not expected to get high enough in the coming days to melt the snow.

“Removing fallen trees to access areas without electricity has been slow and cumbersome,” Mike Burke, vice president of field operations for the utility company, said in a statement.

Up to 1 foot of snow is expected in the New York and New England area on Friday. To learn more from Telemundo, visit https://www.nbc.com/networks/telemundo.