Power Problems Continue into Weekend

News stations on-scene

Emergency crews in front of 99 Riverside Ave

Several more National Grid crews work to restore power on Riverside Ave

Voluntary Evacuations for 99 Riverside Residents; Power Out Until Saturday Afternoon

– Allison Goldsberry

An underground cable failure at noon time Friday on Riverside Avenue that caused a power outage and resulted in a dramatic scene in Medford Square continued to cause headaches into the weekend as nearby businesses and senior housing units remained without power until 5PM Saturday.

National Grid spokeswoman Debbie Drew said an underground cable joint failed, possibly causing a loud “popping” sound and smoke to rise through a couple of manholes on Riverside Avenue on Friday, though she stopped short in calling it an explosion.

Drew said 360 customers lost power, mostly area businesses and senior housing at 99 Riverside Avenue.  That number does not represent how many people actually lost power, as each business counts as a single customer, including the senior housing.

While power was restored within an hour to most of the customers, 15 customers still remained without power, including the senior housing and several businesses on Riverside Avenue.   Drew said multiple cables failed when crews tried to move the customers from the original failed line to other lines to restore service.

“Unfortunately things compounded themselves while we were trying to remedy the original situation,” said Drew.

Police on-scene said some seniors opted to go to area hospitals or stayed with family until power was restored.

99 Riverside residents were irked to lose power for so long and it reminded some of the major power outage several years ago that left residents and businesses without power for several days.

One resident who left her apartment to stay with friends estimates she lost about $50 worth of food and plans to seek reimbursement, though she said it wouldn’t make up for the aggravation of having to clean and re-stock a full refridgerator.

“This is crazy that this kind of stuff should happen again…It shouldn’t take that long to get power back,” said the resident, who declined to be named.

According to Drew, National Grid crews will likely continue repairs for the next several days even though power has been completely restored, as locating and fixing problem cables underground is a tedious and difficult job. 

Drew said restoring service is their first priority, and that a company vice president was at the scene all day with Mayor Michael McGlynn.