Story highlights
New Hampshire hardest hit by outages: more than 133,000 still without power Friday
More than 100,000 in Maine had no power for Thanksgiving
"My mom is chopping breadcrumbs with a flashlight," Maine resident tweeted
Storm-related power outages hit across the Northeast, leaving some chopping breadcrumbs by flashlight, cooking turkeys on the grill and watching Netflix on phones.
Many New Englanders were without power – but this was nothing new for the region.
Tens of thousands spent Thanksgiving just as others did in New England when Turkey Day was first observed in the 17th century: without electricity.
In New Hampshire, more than 133,000 customers were still without power early Friday.
“They’re saying it will be a multiday event,” said Fallon Reed, the assistant operations chief for the New Hampshire Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management.
In Maine, there were as many as 110,000 customers without electricity on Thanksgiving morning, but milder Turkey Day temperatures allowed for workers to cut that number down by more than two thirds by night’s end.
Central Maine Power Co. reported that less than 32,000 customers had no power, while Emera, the state’s second-largest utility company, reported that less than 1,000 customers were without electricity after a Wednesday nor’easter dumped more than a foot of snow across a dozen Maine cities, WMTW reported.
“Heavy, wet snow brought down power lines and tree limbs interrupting service to thousands of people throughout Maine,” Emera posted on its website. “Crews will remain in the field through the overnight hours and into Friday until all customers are fully restored.”
Despite the setback, the heartiest of New Englanders wouldn’t let the lack of electricity prevent them from enjoying the heartiest of meals. Lots of Mainers took to Twitter either to poke fun at or moan about the weather. Most showed remarkable resilience and seemed reluctant to let the weather ruin the holiday.
“Power is out at parents house in Maine, so my mom is chopping breadcrumbs with a flashlight,” Brooklyn copy editor Kelly Gordon tweeted. She later told CNN that the meal turned out perfectly. “My mom would never let no lights (or) no heat keep her from Thanksgiving prep work,” she said.
CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin and Teri Genova contributed to this report.