Many in MA remain without power after Sandy

BOSTON (WHDH) -- Tuesday was about damage assessment and restoration for National Grid, who counted 237,000 customers without power at the height of Hurricane Sandy.

“We hit the ground running at 5 a.m. and we have 2,400 people working on the storm today,” said Marcy Reed, President of National Grid in Massachusetts.

Sandy knocked down power lines in dozens of communities. Her winds kept bucket trucks and workers in a holding pattern until Tuesday morning. She is still making life difficult for one family, who has a 10-month-old son.

“The food situation, I mean giving him a hot meal. So now we have to keep going out. No heat,” said Stephanie Brefini, who lost power.

All of the family’s food has spoiled. Their only source of light is a flashlight.

“Driving around town, that’s difficult in itself. Detours everywhere, but finding restaurants that have power, fast food places that have power, that was tough this morning,” said Danny Nistendirk, who lost power.

Nothing was easy. Nearby, a neighborhood watched a friend’s house catch fire after three transformers blew.

“We came down to make sure everything was okay and discovered this house was engaged in a fire,” said John Robillard, who heard the transformers blow.

National Grid said tree trimming and maintenance over the past year helped keep the number of outages down, but when you are the one without power none of that seems to matter.