MA Power Outages: 132K In The Dark As Storm Damage Takes Toll

More than 132,000 customers in Massachusetts are without power as a fierce storm rolls through . The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reported 132,258 in the dark as of 7:17 p.m., as the worst of the wind gusts have made their way through the state.

Communities south of Boston are the hardest hit on a per-population scale. Several Plymouth and Bristol counties towns — including Pembroke, Hanson, West Bridgewater and Rochester — are without power for at least half of the population.

The strongest recorded wind gust was at the Blue Hills Observatory in Milton, where an unofficial reading hit 87 miles per hour.

Earlier in the afternoon, Gov. Charlie Baker said health care at the state's hospitals shouldn't be interrupted in the event of outages. Baker said hospitals have power backups that can last several days, providing energy so workers can keep providing care to a health care system that is being strained due to a the number COVID-19 patients.

Baker said utility crews will be in position to deal with outages throughout Monday. The storm will being relenting around dusk.

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Patch will update this story throughout the day.