Line crews still working to restore power to hundreds of Vermonters

MIDDLESEX, Vt. (WCAX) - Thousands of Vermonters spent the holiday weekend without electricity after an intense winter storm. According to Vt. Outages, more than 2,500 people were still in the dark Monday night.

Meanwhile, line crews are still out across the state working to get the power on.

“So we are on day four now of a power outage,” D.J. Barry said. “Longest power outage I have ever experienced here in the dead of winter.”

Barry lives on a back road in Middlesex. A tree took down lines on his neighbor’s property, the likely cause of his outage.

Borrowed generators have given him some power, but at this point, the Washington Electric Co-op customer is a little frustrated.

“I think the biggest frustration is communication, unable to have any updates. Here we are day four-- is it going to be day ten? It’s been really hard just not knowing when we are even going to be back up.” Barry said.

Power companies all across Vermont have been working through the holiday weekend to restore service.

Monday evening, Washington County had the highest number of remaining outages. Washington Electric is getting help from Burlington Electric crews to find and fix each one.

They say although it has been a long holiday, they are prepared to keep working for several days.

“They sent us home for the night of Christmas and we were able to spend Christmas morning with our families. Then they wanted us back for about ten o’clock. Then we got to come back and keep going. We are just going with the flow. That’s what it’s all about,” said Anthony Meyer of Burlington Electric.

“We have a lot of breaks in the line, a lot of trees down, a lot of broken poles. So they have been working since Friday when the storm hit. Crews will stay on and keep working until we get it all restored. Then we will have a lot of cleanup even after,” said Louis Porter of Washington Electric.

The power could be down for a couple more days.

Others who are still in the dark say they hope the power comes on soon, but in the meantime, they will make do.

“We have a wood stove in our basement. We also have a propane heater upstairs. So we have done alright without it,” said Shawn Nailor of Worcester.

If you see downed power lines, make sure you keep your distance and do not approach them, especially if they are on the ground.

If you still don’t have power, companies say you can call or go online and make a claim.

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