Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

BOSTON, Mass. -- A winter storm pounded New England with pouring rain, sleet and ice, knocking out power to roughly 350,000 customers in Massachusetts, closing schools and roads and prompting Gov. Deval Patrick to declare a statewide state of emergency Friday.

The storm, which began Thursday night, coated trees with ice, causing branches to break onto power lines and roadways throughout central and western Massachusetts. By Friday, emergency crews raced to clean up the debris, but homes, businesses and even some courts in Worcester remained dark and officials warned it could be days before power is restored.

No major injuries were reported, but police were searching for a Marlborough Department of Public Works employee who went missing after reporting to work early Friday. Kevin Connolly was last seen about 5 a.m. near the department building.

Robert Warfield, a 72-year-old Worcester resident, said tree limbs and debris made it impossible to get through his street. Loud sounds from a breaking maple tree woke him up about 4:30 a.m. Friday.

"The limbs just kept snapping and they hit my roof six times," he said. "I've never seen anything like it in the 45 years I've lived here."

National Grid reported about 290,000 electric customers without power, mostly in the Worcester and Merrimack Valley areas, while Western Massachusetts Electric Co. put their outages at roughly 21,000 customers. Some towns, including Becket, Windsor, Cummington and Middlefield, experienced near blackout conditions.

"This is a really extreme situation we are experiencing," National Grid spokeswoman Jackie Barry said.

-- The Associated Press

 Tags  Massachusetts power failures

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