Line crews and first responders keep the lights on

Winter arrived in full force across Belknap County this year in the form of winter storm Elliott, and crews from power companies were still working Tuesday to restore power to communities across the state. 

The nationwide storm killed dozens and left many regions in a state of emergency as of this writing. New Hampshire, and by extension the Lakes Region, managed to avoid the worst of the storm, but hundreds of thousands experienced power outages.

According to Eversource, 3,200 customers had power restored in Laconia, 2,900 in Gilford, 1,700 in Franklin, 2,000 in Belmont, and 80 in Meredith as of Monday. Crews from both Eversource and the New Hampshire Electric Co-op are still working to fully restore power in the Lakes Region and across the state.

In Belmont, local thrift store and food pantry Hope House lost hundreds of pounds of meat when their freezer failed due to a power outage.

Pastor Andrew Barnes of Belmont’s First Baptist Church, which runs the Hope House, estimated the loss between 500 and 700 pounds.

“We get weekly donations from the Shaw’s over in Gilford," Barnes said. "When they came in this morning with that donation, they noticed the freezer wasn’t freezing.”

“We had a little bit [of meat] to give out, but the rest we had to throw away,” said Cindy Snell, a food pantry volunteer. For four years, the pantry utilized a three-door, stand-up ice cream freezer to store weekly donated meat products.

“It was nice stuff, too,” said Rita Donohue, another volunteer. “Steaks, filet mignon, a lot of bacon, organic meat as well.”

Barnes said the freezer was now past the point of fixing due to its age, and that the church will be on the lookout for a solid replacement. No fundraiser has been set up yet.

“In the past we’ve talked about doing a walk-in freezer off the back deck, something a bit more energy efficient because this has been draining our bank account as far as our energy goes,” Barnes said. “$10,000, $12,000, that’s a hefty investment to make, but we’ve got to do it. We need to serve the folks in the community that need help.”

To support the church's freezer replacement project, visit gofundme.com/f/replace-the-freezer-in-pollys-pantry.

“Other than that, we were lucky,” Donohue said. “People had tree damage all over the place, and water damage in the cellar.”

“Our neighbor down the road, he’s 80, he didn’t get power back until yesterday,” Snell said. “He slept in his car. Even though we went twice and brought him to our home to feed him.”

As reported earlier in The Daily Sun, trees have been wreaking havoc on power lines when they collapse under the weight of snow, rain and powerful winds.

Starting Friday afternoon, Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid was overwhelmed with calls of downed power lines, trees on lines, electrical issues, gas smells in buildings, flooding and more.

According to a statement from LRMFA, additional staff had to be called in to manage the situation throughout the weekend.

Over the first 22 hours of the storm, the LRMFA handled over 400 emergency calls.

“There were significant power outages throughout the day,” said Laconia Fire Chief Tim Joubert. "We had flooded basements, downed power lines, trees on houses, cars, wires. Anything wind- or water-related we pretty much experienced it in that 24-hour period.”

Despite the difficulties, it appeared that most people got through the storm with their health intact. “I’m not aware of any specific injuries related to the storm. We had a few slip-and-falls the next day but nothing due to the wind or trees, or even the downed power lines.”

The Gilford Police Department lost their phone lines due to power outages as well, forcing calls to be diverted through Laconia PD.

“911 is always still covered,” explained Lt. Adam VanSteensburg of the Gilford Police Department. “If our lines are down, our lines are diverted to Laconia PD and vice versa, so 911 would never go unanswered.”

VanSteensburg explained the department also has a backup cellphone system that the Laconia department was able to contact while the main phones were down.

It wasn’t just police officers and firefighters busy during the storm. Thousands of workers from power companies like Eversource and the New Hampshire Electric Co-op worked around the clock to keep the lights on for the holiday season. A homage to their efforts can be seen at the corner of Union Avenue and Weirs Boulevard in the form of a handmade sign thanking line crews.

“From basically midnight Dec. 23, when the storm arrived, through 8 p.m. last night, we restored power to more than 325,000 customers in New Hampshire,” said Eversource Media Relations Manager William Hinkle. “We had more than 700 line, tree and service crews working across the state.”

According to Hinkle, the energy company brought in crews from Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia and even Canada to provide assistance.

“Utilities have a mutual aid assistance network,” Hinkle explained, adding participants can both request and answer calls for aid. “You participate in both ways. During Hurricane Ida last year, we sent a large contingent in support of that.”

While the efforts of line crews and emergency services managed to keep the state together, storms like Elliot will only become more common as the effects of climate change rear their ugly head.

“We’re certainly concerned about the impact of the changing climate and increasing frequency of weather that causes damage to the electric system,” Hinkle said. “Our top priority is providing safe, reliable service to our customers and ensuring our systems can withstand the effects of climate change.”

One of those methods, according to Hinkle, is a new piece of technology called Smart Switches.

“This technology allows remote system operators to isolate power outages to reduce the impact, and reroute power to restore power to customers that would have been impacted,” he said.

Despite a future where such storms could become more common, it appears the Lakes Region is now over the worst of the storm.

“I know some people had to go without power for two to three days,” Joubert said. “It was kind of cold out, but I think everyone did pretty well and kind of prepared themselves for the event.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a link to support Hope House's freezer replacement.