Winter storm knocks out power to thousands in Merrimack Valley

ANDOVER, Mass. — The powerful Pre-Christmas storm knocked power out to thousands of people in Merrimack Valley Friday, with National Grid officials saying it could be 11pm Christmas Eve before power is restored to most customers.

“This storm lived up to its reputation,” said Bill Malee, National Grid’s Vice President of Emergency Planning.

National Grid has up to 2,000 employees, including some workers imported from Texas and Florida, deployed throughout its region working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers

Next town over, in Andover, the tree in Matthew Dowling’s front yard came crashing down early Friday morning.

The tree missed his house, but Matthew spent all morning clearing his driveway so his wife could get to work on time.

“You can see where the power lines connect to the house, if it had gone the other way, we’d be knocked out significantly,” Dowling said.

Throughout the Merrimack Valley, the story was the same: power outages, driving rain, causing all kinds of problems

At a 5-way intersection, traffic lights are out, no one is sure what to do.

In some homes, generators are keeping the power going.

But even those generators need power, just ask Patrick Dennehy, who is filling up spare gas cans.

“We have a generator, but we’re already running low on gas, just really filling up,” said Patrick Dennehy, Andover resident. “We’re concerned that all the food for Christmas and Christmas Eve is going to go bad.”

Others, have to make do, the old-fashioned way, loading up on the ice.

“We’ve got food for Christmas and want to make sure meat doesn’t go badly. I hope it comes back soon, but all things considered, it could be a lot worse,” said Brian Lapsa who just returned to Andover from England.

A High Wind Warning has been issued until 7 a.m. Saturday in eastern New England for the worst of that wind.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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