Some North Shore Residents Won't Have Power Until Saturday

BEVERLY, MA — As of 3:30 p.m., National Grid estimated it would not restore power to all of its Massachusetts customers until 11 p.m. Saturday. Crews from National Grid and local, municipal electric utilities fanned out across the region to restore power to thousands of customers Thursday afternoon. The crews were slowed by downed trees that needed to be cleared before repairs could be made, as well as high winds which prevented crews from working in bucket trucks.

Latest Updates (6:00 p.m.)

• Mayor Kim Driscoll said there were "three to four" National Grid crews in Salem and they were prioritizing areas near schools. There were seven roads that still remained closed in Salem.
• Officials for Whole Food Market said they will proceed with the grand opening of their newest store at Beverly Commons on Friday morning.

Patch will continue to update this story as new information becomes available. Scroll down for information on damages, road closures and school closings, as well as facilities that are open for people without power.

See something we missed or have a photo of the storm you want to share with Patch readers? Email dave.copeland@patch.com.

Latest Power Outage Information

National Grid activated 1,100 utility workers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island to work on restoring power. Early Thursday morning, National Grid said it hoped to restore power to most of the affected customers by 6:45 a.m. Friday. But by 12:20 p.m., the number in most North Shore communities increased and the utility was no longer providing updates on when power would be restored. And by 3:30 p.m., the utility was saying it would be late Saturday night before all of its customers could expect power to be back on.

Among the communities affected by the power outages as of 6:00 p.m. Thursday:

• In Beverly, 9,595 of National Grid's 19,245 customers were without power.
• In Salem, 6,893 of the city's 21,234 National Grid customers were without power, down from 8,293 at 3:30 p.m.
• There were another 814 customers in Swampscott, 1,894 customers in Hamilton, and 470 customers in Wenham without power.
• In Marblehead, crews had restored power to 300 of the 950 homes that lost power. In addition to Marblehead Municipal Light crews, there were crews from four other towns scheduled to work "around the clock."

• In Danvers, residents east of Danvers Square can expect their power back late Thursday afternoon or early Thursday evening. Customers in the southern section of town can expect power to be restored later tonight. But in the hardest-hit area of Danvers near Sylvan, Pine, Collins and Centre Streets, power will most likely not be restored until sometime on Friday.
• Peabody Municipal Light expected to restore power to most customers in west Peabody by 3:30 p.m. In the area of McKinley and Lowell Streets, where a large tree fell, power remained out and there were no immediate updates of when it would be back on.

The power outages were not limited to the North Shore. Across Massachusetts, National Grid reported 77,256 customer power outages at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, down from 85,234 customers at 3:30 p.m. Eversource said 47,213 of its 1.16 million customers in eastern Massachusetts were without power. That was down from 3:30 p.m., when 57,315 Eversource customers in eastern Massachusetts were without power.

Vicious Winds Cause Widespread Damage

Officials throughout the region were assessing damage from the storm, which brought wind gusts of up to 90 mph in some areas. Schools were closed in Beverly, Danvers and Salem, among other communities. Schools in Marblehead had a 2-hour opening delay.

On Thursday afternoon, Mayor Kim Driscoll said there were "three to four" National Grid crews in Salem and they were prioritizing on areas near schools. There were seven roads that still remained closed in Salem.

The Beverly Athletic Club was opening up to members of the community who needed a place to shower or recharge electronic devices. Officials for Whole Food Market said they will proceed with the grand opening of their newest store at Beverly Commons on Friday morning.

"Despite last night’s storm the store will still be up and running as scheduled for tomorrow’s opening," a company official said.

On Derby Wharf in Salem, several boats were damaged and, in some cases, blown out of the water. The Salem National Maritime Historic Site close access to the wharf.

There was heavy damage in Danvers. A home and car were crushed by a falling tree on Arthur Street, and on Crane Street, trees fell and reportedly hit "multiple houses." Crews were arriving just after 7 a.m. Thursday to begin the cleanup on the street.