In Warwick, the Rhode Island city with the largest number of customers who lost power, nearly 14,000 homes and businesses remained in the dark Monday evening. Residents and work crews spent much of the day cleaning up debris and waiting for the power to come back.
(You can find the most updated information on power outages from National Grid here.)
As he unpacked a generator, resident Adam Logan described waking up to wind and rain whipping the Buttonwoods neighborhood early Monday morning.
“It sounded like a war zone,” Logan said. “There were constantly heavy branches dropping off the roof. I was circling through all my windows to make sure none of these big trees were going to come down.”
He got out of bed around 2:30 a.m. to make sure all the windows of the house were secure. While the storm raged around him, Logan hoped none of the large trees around his property would fall on his home.
Thankfully, none of them did. And, miraculously, Logan’s children slept through the storm.
After 12 hours without electricity, Logan’s family was one of the lucky ones; He was able to borrow a generator from a family member.
“And of course we had just gone grocery shopping, so we’re trying to keep the food okay in the fridge,” he said.
A neighbor, Rebecca Perry, was also able to find a generator.
“Power’s out,” she noted, but, she added, “I have no damage, so I”m pretty okay with that.”
Perry was using the generator to charge her cell phone, a sign of the times, perhaps. She expected it would take a day if not longer to get her power back.
“You find other things to do. You read a book or whatever,” she said.
Power Restoration Efforts Move Slowly
More than 140,000 Rhode Island households and businesses lost power Sunday night and early Monday, and more than 130,000 remained without power at the end of the business day.
Although utility National Grid said 50 crews were working Monday, the company also said it could be days before some residents will be able to turn the lights back on.
A spokesman told RIPR he could not give an exact estimate for when power might be restored.
“We don’t want to set up unrealistic expectations for something that may not happen,” said National Grid’s Timothy Rondeau. Rondeau said numerous downed tree limbs and dozens of power failures in just about every corner of the state have complicated restoration efforts.
“We’re asking for patience as we work around the clock to get folks up and running,” he said.
In Seekonk, town officials took part in a conference call with major utilities and public safety departments across Massachusetts. When will the lights come back on?
“At this time the best estimates National Grid can provide for power restoration is 48 to 72 hours,” Seekonk officials said in a written statement.
“National Grid will have crews in town throughout the night attempting to clear downed lines and open roadways.”
Families Wonder Whether Schools Will Close For A Second Day
With the exception of two schools, Providence announced all city public schools would reopen Tuesday. The schools remaining closed for a second day: Pleasant View Elementary and George J. West Elementary.
Halloween was no doubt on the minds of many children, but city officials warned residents to avoid trick-or-treating in neighborhoods where the lights remained off Tuesday.
In Coventry, public schools will remain closed on Tuesday. The state-run Davies High School was also expected to remain closed.
Many other schools and districts had yet to announce their plans, as of Monday evening. You can find updated information on closings and delays here.
National Grid: This Could Be Multi-Day Event
It may take most of the day or longer for some Rhode Island and Massachusetts residents to get the power back on, National Grid said late Monday morning. Stormy weather knocked out electricity for thousands of residents and businesses Sunday night and early Monday.
“Our crews are out in the field now assessing the situation,” said National Grid Spokesman Ted Cresse.
“But I think, candidly, we need to be prepared that this could be a multi-day event.”
National Grid’s website showed many locations with crews still unassigned, and some places were not expected to get power back until November 1st, nearly three days after the storm hit.
Leafy trees, widespread outages and continued windy conditions are all slowing the recovery effort, said Cresse, asking for patience from residents, many of whom have been without power since Sunday night.
“There’s extensive damage that was made worse because a lot of the trees still have their leaves on them,” said Cresse. “So a lot of branches coming down on the power lines resulting in extensive damage out there.”
Here’s a screen grab from National Grid’s online outage map, showing an example of an area where the power outage may last days:
Wind Advisory In Effect For RI, Parts Of MA & CT
The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory through Monday evening, warning that wind gusts could reach 45 miles per hour with sustained winds up to 20 miles per hour.
The advisory covers all of Rhode Island, most of Massachusetts and parts of Northern Connecticut.
Forecasters expected the strongest winds on Monday afternoon, with enough power to potentially down trees, tree limbs and power lines. That would add to the challenge for National Grid, which is already struggling to address numerous electrical outages throughout the region.
The wind advisory is scheduled to lift at 5 p.m.
Storm Causes Power Outages And School Closures 
The utility National Grid reported nearly 150,000 customers without power Monday morning in Rhode Island and Bristol County, MA, after a rainy and windy night.
Most of the power outages were in Providence and Kent Counties in RI, with significant outages in Washington County, RI, and Bristol County, MA. (You can find the most updated information on power outages from National Grid here.)
Power outages closed many schools in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, Monday morning, and caused delayed openings in others. Updates on specific school systems are available on our weather closings page.
According to the National Weather Service, the south coast of Rhode Island saw hurricane force wind gusts overnight.
“Gusts overnight in Rhode Island, down near the south coast, were on the order of 70 to 80 miles per hour, even around Providence were over 60 miles per hour,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Joe Dellicarpini. “We’re not looking at a repeat of that today, but still strong enough winds, 40-50 miles per hour, to cause additional damage.”
The winds will gradually diminish later in the day, Dellicarpini added, “and then we’ll be in for some dry more typical fall weather for a few days.”
Dellicarpini said the weather will be chilly and clear for Halloween.
Most of Barrington Loses Power
In the town of Barrington, nearly all National Grid customers were without power Monday morning, some 5,377 households and businesses, according to the utility’s website.
By mid-morning, the utility was estimating that the power would not return before 7 o’clock Monday evening.
A National Grid spokesman told RIPR that crews were still assessing the damage and that the large number of outages statewide would slow power restoration.
This post was updated throughout the day on October 30th to reflect the latest reporting after the storm. For RIPR’s continuing coverage of storm recovery efforts, please check here.
