Storm knocks out power to hundreds in Berkshires

By Jessica Willis and Jenn Smith, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Article Last Updated: 06/11/2008 10:25:18 AM EDT


Wednesday, June 11
PITTSFIELD — Hundreds of customers lost electricity last night when a fast-moving storm swept across Berkshire County, with large hail, lightning and powerful wind gusts that knocked down trees and power lines.
South County took the biggest hit as police and fire crews scrambled to respond to reports of tree limbs and power lines down in Egremont, Great Barrington and Sheffield.

At 10:45 p.m., about 600 customers in Egremont, 600 in Sheffield, and 180 in Great Barrington were without power, according to Debbie Drew, a spokeswoman for National Grid.

"Nickel-sized" hail was reported in Otis at 9:50 p.m. last night, according to Tom Wasula, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Albany.

Wind gusts were estimated at about 60 mph, Wasula added.

In Pittsfield, police and fire crews responded to reports of wires down near 300 Cheshire Road, and in the area of Churchill and Cascade streets.

The storm formed when a cold front to the west started to push east, and met the heat and humidity over the Mid-Atlantic and New England, said Wasula, a meterologist for the National Weather Service in Albany.

Earlier in the day, an underground cable failure was responsible for leaving a sizable section of Pittsfield without power yesterday.

It wasn't clear why the cable failed, but the recent high temperatures could have been a factor, said Mitch Gross, a spokesman for Western


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Massachusetts Electric Co.
The outages were reported at 11:07 a.m. in the Coltsville area.

Heat, erosion, and electrical current are all factors that can contribute to an underground cable failure, Gross said, who added that underground cable gets hotter quicker than power lines that run overhead.

According to a WMECO report at noontime yesterday, a total of 959 customers were without power in parts of Pittsfield, and the neighboring towns of Cheshire, Dalton and Lanesborough.

Power was restored to most of the area shortly thereafter. As of 3 p.m., only 26 customers were without electricity, and by 3:30 p.m. power was completely restored to the area.