Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Heavy snowfall drops tree branches onto power lines, causing outages in New England

A storm is dropping a mix of rain and snow on parts of New England, with some locations recording more than a half-foot of snow to start the week

The Associated Press
Monday 04 December 2023 13:18 EST
Canada Winter Weather
Canada Winter Weather

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A storm dropped a mix of rain and snow on parts of New England with some locations recording more than a half-foot (15 centimeters) of snowfall on Monday, knocking out power for tens of thousands of people and causing slick roads that contributed to a fiery propane truck crash in Vermont.

Evacuations were ordered in two communities, including at a pair of schools, in Vermont after the propane tanker went off the Vermont Route 14 bridge over the Black River in Irasburg and caught fire, state police said. Emergency workers created a 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) perimeter around the crash site in the event of an explosion.

At the peak, more than 25,000 homes and businesses in Maine and more than 11,000 in Vermont were without electricity as trees and branches laden with heavy, wet snow fell on power lines, officials said. The temperatures were hovering close to freezing across much of northern New England on Monday.

The National Weather Service declared the first winter storm warning of the season for New Hampshire and western Maine. Northernmost Vermont was also under a winter storm warning on Monday. Far northern Maine, also under a warning, already saw heavy snow before Thanksgiving.

Some mountainous areas of western Maine and New Hampshire could see over a foot of snow. Vermont was expected to get closer to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow.

The snow made for a messy, slushy commute in many parts of the region. Many communities in northern New England had school delays and closures for the day.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in