ADDISON COUNTY — One of the first large thunderstorms of the season sent 70 mph winds and steady bolts of lightning racing through Vermont late last Wednesday night and into the early hours on Thursday, cutting power to thousands of homes around the state, including more than 1,000 in Addison County.
Central Vermont Public Service Corp. (CVPS) estimated that 24,000 residences lost power during the storm, and by 8 a.m. on Thursday 13,200 remained without power.
The bulk of the outages were in Rutland and Windham counties, with Brattleboro and Poultney-area residents reporting significant damage to trees and power lines in the area. But 1,200 Addison County homes were still without power on Thursday morning.
As reports of downed trees and broken utility poles streamed in from across the affected area on Thursday morning, CVPS warned anyone who came upon a broken or downed wire to contact the company immediately and to keep a distance of at least 50 feet from the line.
The company hired outside crews from Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont to help with the line repairs. The crews planned to work through the day and into the night on Thursday to restore power to all of the affected lines, but CVPS said that due to the extent of the outages, some customers could remain without power until Friday.