Some in R.I. may lack electricity into weekend

Some Rhode Island residents could be without power into the weekend after a strong coastal storm dumped more than 4 inches of rain in some parts of the state and delivered wind gusts up to 70 mph.

After the storm swept through overnight, strong winds continued during the day Thursday, hampering efforts to restore power to some homes and businesses, according to Ted Kresse, a spokesman for National Grid.

"Considering the additional weather challenges we’ve been facing today, this will be a multi-day outage for some customers," Kresse said Thursday afternoon.

National Grid said in a press release Thursday afternoon that it expected to have "the majority of customers restored before Saturday night." National Grid has about 280 workers in Rhode Island responding to emergency calls, assessing damage, clearing trees and repairing infrastructure, the company said.

At the height of power interruption, around 9 a.m. Thursday, about 43,000 customers were without power, Kresse said. By 10 p.m., Kresse said, that number was down to just over 14,000.

The hardest hit areas were along the coast. In Westerly, some 12,000 customers were still without power at about 3 p.m., Kresse said. Charlestown, South Kingstown and Barrington had widespread outages, as did Johnston, according to Kresse.

High winds were the cause of the outages, Kresse said, though heavy rains combined with wet trees and saturated ground compounded the problem.

Several schools cancelled classes, including Westerly public schools, and Chariho Regional Public Schools.

House Minority Leader Blake Filippi, a Republican who represents Westerly, Charlestown and South Kingstown, blasted National Grid’s "lack of storm preparations in Washington County" in a news release.

“Once again, many of our residents and businesses are going to be impacted by power outages, possibly for days," he said. Besides the schools, "many businesses are closed. Our elderly and infirm are without power. It is time for National Grid to restore power to our residents today — and take action so that it is a dependable resource in the future.

“Perhaps more eye-popping than our electric bills is that we suffer these outages year after year — mostly due to the lack of investment in infrastructure and preemptive tree trimming maintenance by National Grid. The Public Utilities Commission needs to hold National Grid accountable for this lack of a reasonable preparedness and establish proactive measures to make sure we’re protected in the future; and the House Oversight Committee should hold everyone’s feet to the fire.”

The powerful coastal storm dumped more than 4 inches of rain on some parts of Rhode Island, including Glocester, where 4.45 inches was reported, and Coventry, where 4.19 inches fell, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm generated winds of 70 mph in Westerly and 68 mph at Point Judith, according to the Weather Service. The wind was even stronger on Cape Cod, where a 90-mph gust was reported in Provincetown.

Strong winds will continue into Friday "before conditions improve into the weekend," said Rodney Chai, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Norton.

National Grid's power outage map can be found at https://outagemap.ri.nationalgridus.com/.