Thousands Across Mass. Without Power, Baker Assures Hospitals Adequately Prepared

Wilmington storm photo.jfif — A tree is down on Hopkins Street in Wilmington, Mass., on April 13, 2020.

Kaitlyn Locke is a digital associate producer for GBH News. Before joining GBH, she worked as a homepage producer and Living/Arts correspondent for The Boston Globe. She studied journalism and Spanish at Boston University.

April 13, 2020

Updated at 6:37 pm.

Thousands of households across Massachusetts were without power Monday as fierce winds and rain pummeled much of the commonwealth.

As of 6:37 p.m. Monday afternoon, more than 125,000 customers were without power, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency's website. Those numbers fluctuated greatly over the course of an hour and are expected to change.

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for the majority of the state, in effect until at least 7 p.m. Monday. The NWS warned that winds could reach up to 65 mph.

During a press conference Monday afternoon, Gov. Charlie Baker said the storm could especially impact Southeastern Massachusetts, including the Cape and Islands, and the Boston metro area.

"To prepare for this, our DPU has worked with the state's utility companies to stage crews around the state and call in the necessary personnel to work on power restorations once sustained winds are below 30 mph and conditions to do so are safe," Baker said.

Baker said personnel are prepared to maintain social distancing while conducting repairs, and urged people to plan ahead for power outages.

"We're also working with hospitals, critical care facilities, newly created COVID-19 facilities and the utilities to ensure continuity of service there," Baker said. "Our state's hospitals have multi-day backup power generation on-site and utility companies are prepared to deploy generators to critical care facilities to ensure that service is never interrupted."