Press Release

Department of Safety
Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Contact: Jim Van Dongen, 603-223-3710

Storm Updates from the State Emergency Operation Center
3 pm

Flood danger in the North Country is diminished. The Saco River is at flood stage, but is receding. All other rivers and streams are at action stage (one step below minor flood stage) and dropping, or still rising and not expected to get above action stage.

Six (6) shelters remain open:

OPEN

• Auburn Safety Complex (0 occupants)
• Groton Town House (0 occupants)
• Keene Recreation Center (0 occupants)
• Nashua High School South (11 occupants)
• Piermont Church (0 occupants)
• Plymouth State University (4 occupants)

Other shelters have closed or gone to standby status.

About 450 schools, day care centers and other institutions are closed.

The U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the port has opened the ports of Portsmouth and Portland with no restrictions and has resumed normal operations.

Utility outages total approximately 157,600, down from more than 210,000 at the peak. Most power restoration work is expected to be done by Friday or Saturday.

• PSNH - 113,306
• Unitil - 22,905
• National Grid - 4,114
• Co-op - 20,051

This storm was the fourth worst in terms of the number of power outages. The others were:

1. December 2008 ice storm – 422,000
2. February 2010 wind storm – 310,000
3. October 2011 snow storm – 210,000

Road closures: 29 state roads, 221 local roads are closed.

The most common cause of road closures is trees or wires down.