ADDISON COUNTY — Hundreds of homes around Addison County and Brandon lost power on Wednesday in the high winds of winter’s first serious storm.
According to Central Vermont Public Service Corp. spokeswoman Christine Rivers, more homes in Addison County lost power by late Wednesday afternoon — 2,700 — than in any other Vermont county except Rutland County, where 4,200 CVPS customers had lost power as of 4 p.m.
In all, 14,000 Vermont households had lost power at some point before 4 p.m., and some 9,200 were still without electricity at that point. Rivers said CVPS had contracted extra crews and moved crews from less affected areas to help harder-hit locations. She expected the effort to restore power to all customers to last at least through Thursday morning.
In Addison County, Middlebury and Lincoln customers were hardest hit. In Lincoln, 850 customers had lost electricity at some point of the day by 4 p.m., and by that point in Middlebury 1,100 customers had lost power at least temporarily, Rivers said.
Also, 370 Bristol households and 100 in Brandon were affected, while most other towns saw between 40 and 100 households without power at some point, she said.
Winds measured at up to 44 mph at the Middlebury Airport had downed so many trees and branches that emergency personnel closed portions of Painter and Cobble Roads, Foote and Munger streets, and part of Route 116 late afternoon on Wednesday. Workers heard on a scanner also said a tree fell on a home near the intersection of Route 116 and Cady Cross Road; no one was hurt.