Ice Storn Rocks New England

By Scott Disavino
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A powerful snow and ice storm knocked out power to nearly 1 million homes and businesses across New York and New England on Friday, closing roads and forcing the state of Maine to shut government offices.
"This is a very, very serious situation right now," New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch said after declaring an emergency in his state, where as many as 230,000 lost power in what local authorities describe as the worst outages in three decades.
"I don't think anyone anticipated it would be as bad as it is," he added.
Massachusetts deployed about 500 National Guard troops to clear roads and help residents, while utilities officials from across the region said outages could grow as they assess the damage and the storm continues to bear down on some areas.
Power may not return to thousands in Massachusetts until Monday at the earliest, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said. "Many of us view that as an ambitious estimate at this point," he told a news conference.
Western and central regions of the state were hit hardest, including Leominster, a city of 41,000 people that helped to launch America's plastics industry in the 18th century and was completely in the dark.
National Grid Plc reported about 470,000 customers in New York and New England without service, a spokesman said, adding it could take several days to restore power.
National Grid, which serves about 3.1 million customers in New York and New England, said about 295,000 lost power in New England and 173,000 in eastern New York.
In New Hampshire, Northeast Utilities' Public Service Co reported on its website that 230,000 customers had no power early Friday. The utility warned customers that it could take days to restore power.
It added that the number of outages could climb as additional icing and wind gusts snap tree limbs, damage power lines and hamper its equipment.
"There were trees down pretty much everywhere," Andrew Manuse, editor of the Manchester Express, told Reuters.
"One is laying on my fence. Power's out. Water's out. Heater's out. There's a tree on my neighbors roof. Thankfully, no one was injured," he added.
In Maine, at least 100,000 were without power early Friday and the number was expected to grow, said Iberdrola SA's Central Maine Power Co, which serves about 1.6 million customers in New York and Maine.
Maine Gov. John Baldacci shut government offices in the state, citing weather and power outages.
In Vermont, ISO New England, the regional grid operator, asked Entergy Corp to reduce the output of the 620-megawatt Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor from full power to about 82 percent early Friday and to stop transmitting power to Northfield, Massachusetts.

This is horrible, but what i see is this situation has brought people closer together to help those in need. This is truly a tragedy, as i do feel for the people who lost power and are in a tough situation. This is an opportunity for these people to gather together as a community and provide help to each other. I always try to look at the bright side of things, and i will send prayers out to the people in need.

Many Blessings