Some 17,000 WMECO customers were in the dark following Wednesday's tornado.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – Utility crews around Massachusetts are scrambling to restore power to tens of thousands of residents left in the dark by tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.
Western Massachusetts Electric Co. says crews from Connecticut Light and Power and Public Service of New Hampshire are being sent in to help with restoration efforts. The utility was reporting nearly 17,000 customers without electricity as of 11 p.m. Wednesday.
National Grid said a helicopter would be used on Thursday to assess damage to power lines in hard-to-reach rural areas of the region. The utility had more than 40,000 customers without power in the aftermath of the tornadoes.
Officials say many of the outages were caused by trees bringing down power lines.
Residents are warned never to touch downed lines and to always assume that any fallen line is a live electrical wire