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700 in DeKalb, Canton, Macomb again without power; St. Lawrence County vulnerable to more outages until ice melts

Posted 12/26/13

More than 700 households in DeKalb, Canton and Macomb are again without power today, even though National Grid crews had restored power to all but about 200 customers on Christmas day. Still, it’s …

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700 in DeKalb, Canton, Macomb again without power; St. Lawrence County vulnerable to more outages until ice melts

Posted

More than 700 households in DeKalb, Canton and Macomb are again without power today, even though National Grid crews had restored power to all but about 200 customers on Christmas day.

Still, it’s a lot better than the more than the more than 7,500 St. Lawrence County customers who were without electricity after Ice Storm 2013 coated the region in an inch of ice this past weekend, downing trees and utility lines.

National Grid brought in crews from throughout the state, creating the largest workforce since the 1998 ice storm, including more than 850 electric line and forestry workers.

Christmas night, dozens of utility trucks packed the parking lots at Canton’s Best Western University Inn and Comfort Suites. Before Christmas, air scores of air mattresses and blankets wet set up in the field house at Clarkson University in Potsdam for use by utility and forestry crew workers.

Late this morning, 501 National Grid customers in DeKalb were reported to be without power, but electricity is expected to be restored by noon.

Another 235 customers in Canton and 35 in Macomb were reported without power, but National Grid was still assessing the conditions and did not indicate the estimate time to restore electricity.

National Grid crews may well be facing multiple outages in the coming days and weeks, as heavy ice still clings to many utility wires as well as tree branches overhanging the wires.

Until the ice melts or cracks and falls, St. Lawrence County residents face the chance of additional power outages.