An overnight ice storm left thousands of Upper Valley residents without power and forced multiple road closures Monday as emergency crews worked to clear downed power lines and respond to vehicle accidents throughout the region. As reported in a previous weather alert, a blizzard warning had been issued for the New Hampshire coast as a major storm system approached the region, and this ice storm represents the dangerous conditions that materialized from that system.
Upper Valley residents woke up to more than half an inch of ice in some communities followed by cold rain, according to weather reports. The hazardous conditions led to widespread disruptions across the Twin States.
In Enfield, Police Chief Roy Holland reported a “handful” of slide-offs during the morning commute. The Enfield Police Department closed four roads Monday morning, all blocked by downed power lines, Holland said. As of 1 p.m. Monday, a small portion of Route 4A had reopened, and Holland said utility crews were working in the area to restore access to Lockehaven, Potato and Blood Roads.
Newport experienced similar challenges, with Police Chief Alex Lee reporting “a variety of cars off the roads and spinoffs” but “nothing serious” and no injuries. Cross Road, a short span between Maple Street and Sunapee Street, was closed around 10:15 a.m. after a tractor trailer couldn’t make it up the hill and jackknifed on the 0.2-mile road. Lee said the road was cleared by 11 a.m. with no injuries, though many Newport homes remained without power.
In Thetford, a portion of Academy Road was closed for more than two hours Monday morning after power lines came down in the roadway, according to the Thetford Volunteer Fire Department.
Power outages affected thousands of residents across the region. According to Findenergy.com, an organization that tracks energy usage data, 13.9% of Sullivan County residents and 2.66% of Grafton County residents were without power as of 1 p.m. Monday.
Some of the largest outages were concentrated around Grantham, where one Eversource outage left 1,725 people without power starting at 10 a.m. Monday. In Randolph, an outage on Route 66 left almost 300 people without power Monday morning, according to Green Mountain Power Company.
The New Hampshire Electric Coop reported 4,600 people without power statewide as of 12:30 p.m. Monday and warned of restoration delays. “This ice storm has caused a significant number of outages,” the cooperative wrote online Monday. “While our crews are working across our service area to restore power, hazardous driving conditions are making it difficult to access impacted areas, slowing our restoration efforts.”
The National Weather Service predicted that winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour Monday afternoon would increase the chance of additional power outages. The power outage risk was expected to continue through Monday night in areas with ice accumulated on trees.
Green Mountain Power Company had restored power to more than 8,200 customers by midday Monday and was preparing for further disruptions. Communications Director Kristin Kelly said the company’s field operations team had tracked multiple forecasts for days in advance and brought in external crews to assist with storm response.
The storm also disrupted public transportation and services across the region. In Lebanon, Advance Transit reduced service frequency on the blue, red, green and orange/yellow routes due to icy road conditions, according to a social media post. These routes serve Lebanon, Hanover, Wilder, White River Junction including the VA Hospital and West Lebanon.
Southwestern community Services canceled the bus route running from Claremont to Lebanon due to the hazardous conditions.
Utility crews continued working throughout Monday to restore power and clear roads, with companies warning that restoration efforts could take time given the dangerous driving conditions and extent of the damage.
