Storm leaves much of southern RI without power

A powerful storm tore through the region Wednesday night, leaving widespread electrical outages that have left more than 88% of National Grid customers in the community in the dark.

National Grid reported that as of 11 a.m., there were an estimated 12,800 service outages in Westerly. The number represented 88.67% percent of all customers in town and nearly half of the outages in Washington Country. National Grid officials said there are numerous crews working to restore power, but estimated restoration times were no available as the company continues to assess damage while battling ongoing blustery conditions.

Although Westerly took the brunt of the storm, the damage extended to surrounding communities as well. There were roughly 2,080 customers without electricity in Hopkinton, 1,800 in Charlestown and 1,500 Richmond as of 11 a.m.

The damage extended well beyond electrical services as well. Flooding had caused detours on several shoreline roads, the police said, and Hopkinton said the damage to trees left several roads impassible.

“There are still several roads which are impassible because of of fallen trees, the agency said in a Thursday morning Facebook post. “North Road, Clarks Falls Road, Tomaquag Road, and Woody Hill Road all have complete blockages at some point. There is also a large amount of debris on the roads which are open.

Nearly 1,700 customers in Connecticut were still in the dark as of 11:15 a.m., although the numbers had dropped from more than 2,500.