Weather and downed trees cause Friday outages

High winds caused power outages Friday for people in Houlton, Littleton, Hampden and Woodstock, New Brunswick, according to utility officials.

Power was out to around 430 customers in Littleton for seven hours. A large tree came down on the line causing distribution equipment damage, including a broken pole that crews had to replace. 

Strong winds blew the tree down, said Versant Power spokesperson Shelby Hardin. 

“High winds were the cause of the power outages in our territory. The Hampden outage was also caused by a tree falling and breaking a pole,” Hardin said, adding there were 1,000 customers out of power in that area. 

Littleton customers were restored at around 7 p.m. and the Hampden customers were restored close to midnight, she added.

Houlton and Woodstock customers had no power for about nine hours Friday, which was due to a tree coming down on a power line in Canada, said Greg Sherman, Houlton Water Company general manager.

“Nine hours is way too long,” said Sherman, who is waiting for a detailed incident report to find out why it took so long to repair.