Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

As the wind howled across the Ocean State earlier today, trees and limbs fell, hitting power lines and causing power failures.

But by late afternoon, the wind had lessened, and power was being restored.

In Rhode Island there are still 143 customers around the state without power, but that number is down from roughly 1,700 a few hours ago, said National Grid spokesman David Graves.

"It has started to declined as the wind died down," Graves said "We do anticipate to have all customers restored by the evening,"

No customers were out in southeastern Massachusetts. Previously, customers living in Warwick, which had the most reports, Cranston, Hopkinton, Barrington and South Kingstown lost power.

The National Weather Service had a wind advisory in effect through 1 p.m. today. Northwest winds were expected to average 25 to 35 mph. with gusts up to 50 mph. By late afternoon, winds are expected to diminish to 15 to 25 mph. with gusts up to 35 mph.

In Hopkinton, at least four trees had fallen by midday, around Woody Hill, Tomaquag, Collins roads, and Main Street in the Hope Valley section, according to a police dispatcher.

A rotten telephone pole on Tomaquag Road snapped at the base and caused a small fire in another tree when the transformer fell off. No injuries were reported.

The heavy winds were making the work of restoring power difficult, Graves said earlier this afternoon.

"The winds are blowing and it's a game of catch up," Graves said. "We're trying to stay ahead of it. As soon as we get some customers back up, a limb or a tree will go down and we'll loose another section of customers. As the winds die down, we'll be able to get more customers back up."

-- With reports from Talia Buford and Lisa Vernon-Sparks, Journal staff writers

 Tags  National Grid power failures

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