Day after the storm, some remain without power on Cape Cod. Eversource working to restore.

Some areas of Cape Cod remained without power Tuesday after a storm that kicked the week off with rain and gale-force wind gusts, but leaders at Eversource expected most power to be restored by the end of the day.

In the Thistlemore Road area of Provincetown, for example, about 162 customers were still without power just past noon Tuesday as the result of damage to power lines from tree limbs. Eversource estimated repairs would be complete, and power back on, by 4:30 p.m. In other areas, the company estimated power would be restored by around 2 or 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Some customers on Cape, though, may not be so fortunate. According to the company's outage map, power wasn't expected to be restored until late Wednesday for about 154 customers in the area of Walker and Field streets in Falmouth and about 51 customers in the Louis Street area of Hyannis, plus smaller pockets of customers scattered in other parts of Barnstable and Falmouth, North Chatham, Harwich, Yarmouth, Dennis, Brewster and Sandwich.

Over 11,000 Eversource customers on Cape Cod lost power during Monday's storm

Outages happened from Woods Hole to Provincetown. Most struck from just past 10 a.m. through to about 2 p.m., with the highest concentrations in Mashpee, Barnstable, Truro and Provincetown.

Cape Cod was not alone, as the storm took its toll across Massachusetts and other parts of New England.

Regional President of Electric Operations for Eversource Craig Hallstrom said most of the damage to power lines and equipment resulted from fallen trees and limbs, owing to high winds and saturated soil.

"We had a lot of rain the prior weekend and more rain this weekend, and a lot of very mature trees looked like they came over during this big event," he said during an 11 a.m. briefing livestreamed over the company's Facebook page.

In some cases, he said, "we had some big trees come across some big circuits." The response was made more difficult by the prolonged periods of high winds.

Wind gusts on Cape Cod were some of highest clocked in the state

The National Weather Service's Boston-Norton office clocked some of the state's highest wind gusts on Cape Cod at 62 mph. Winds were sustained around 30-40 mph in the afternoon, with gusts around 58 mph. A wind advisory remained in effect for Cape Cod well into Monday afternoon.

"We had started preparing for this event on Thursday. We had crews come in over the weekend, we were on the ground, ready to go Monday morning and the winds just never let up," he said.

According to OSHA guidelines, crews can't go up in their buckets when winds exceed 40 miles per hour, and only with assured safety measures if materials must be handled in winds above 30 miles per hour.

Eversource flew in crews from Midwest and South to help restore power

Despite the challenges, Hallstrom said Eversource was able to restore almost 160,000 customers on Monday. By the end of Tuesday, he said, the company expected to have about 600 crews — some flown in from the Midwest and the South — on the ground to continue working into Wednesday.

As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, about 45,000 Eversource customers statewide were still without power. Hallstrom estimated about 20,000 of those were in the "southern Plymouth area."

"We expect the storm (work) to be significantly over by tomorrow evening, but today we really expect the majority of our customers to be restored," he said.

He commiserated with those still without power, especially with the holiday coming up and many people preparing for it or taking time off.

"We're working real hard, we're bringing in more crews," he said. "I'm really confident that by this evening the majority of people will be restored. We'll clean up tomorrow, and then we'll help anybody who maybe has damage that they can't be restored — damage to their particular homes or businesses."

Outer Cape Battery Energy Storage System activated

"During this storm that battery operated twice," he said, of the battery put into service in Provincetown last year, noting many customers "would have seen an extended outage if it was not for that battery."

"That's just an example of technology that we're using to help make our system more resistant," he said.

Some in Provincetown remained without power into Tuesday. Eversource spokesman Chris McKinnon explained in an email, "if the issue is caused by damage not on a main line and which requires physical repairs to the equipment, the Battery Energy Storage System may not be able to restore power to those specific customers."

"The BESS performed twice during the storm as designed and reduced impacts on our Outer Cape customers," he said.

The company's outage map on Tuesday indicated remaining outages in Provincetown were the result of isolated damage from tree limbs. In Barnstable, about 18 customers along Rte. 28 in the area just west of Cape Cod Gateway Airport were affected by an outage owing to a motor vehicle crash.

The outage map, McKinnon said, is updated about every 15 minutes.

"We do anticipate that many of our customers will be restored today and we anticipate significant restoration — 99% of customers in all communities — by 11 p.m. tomorrow," he said.

Eversource reminds customers to stay clear of downed wires, keep pets away, and report them immediately by calling 911. In addition, customers should be cautious when doing their own storm clean-up. People are advised to look for any wires that may be entangled in debris when moving or cutting tree limbs.

Residents who are without power and using a generator are reminded to be sure the generator is located well away from their home or business and that the transfer switch is working properly.

Customers can report outages online at www.eversource.com/cg/customer/reportoutage, or by calling 800-592-2000. Customers who signed up for the company’s two-way texting feature at www.eversource.com/content/residential/outages/outage-alerts can send a text to report an outage and receive outage updates as they happen.

Heather McCarron can be reached at hmccarron@capecodonline.com, or follow her on X @HMcCarron_CCT.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: December storm updates: Some on Cape Cod still without power