Western, Central Mass. Continue Storm Cleanup

Utility crews worked to restore electricity in western and central Massachusetts Wednesday afternoon, following powerful thunderstorms that knocked down trees and utility poles and left one person dead.

About 6,000 customers were still without power nearly 24 hours after the storms swept through the region late Tuesday afternoon.

But Sandra Ahern, with Western Massachusetts Electric, expects nearly all power to be restored Wednesday evening.

"We have about 120 crews at work in the service territory and that's a combination of our utility, our sister utility and contractor crews," Ahern said.

Though all roads are once again open, state emergency management crews are helping with efforts to clear roads of fallen tree limbs and other debris.

"There's still a lot of work to be done, relative to debris cleanup," said Peter Judge, of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

"A few communities have reached out for some additional chainsaw crews," he said. "We've worked with those communities and slowly but surely things are getting back to normal."

Judge said cleanup efforts will likely extend into Thursday.

Tuesday's storms — with their tornado warnings — brought back bad memories of the deadly June 1 tornadoes that ravaged the region.

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