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Boston Area Residents Can Go Home as Gas Clears, Governor Says

Boston Area Residents Can Go Home as Gas Clears, Governor Says

(Bloomberg) -- Residents in the towns of North Andover, Andover and Lawrence are being allowed to return home after proprieties were safely cleared of gas, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said in a Twitter post Sunday morning, three days several explosions triggered evacuations.

About 15,000 residents had their power restored as of 6:30 a.m. local time, the governor said in a separate tweet. Eversource Energy, in charge of the recovery operation, expects work to be completed by mid-day.

“Eversource has worked hard to coordinate this operation with Columbia Gas and National Grid, and National Grid has been a strong partner in coordinating the return of electricity,” Baker tweeted. Recovery efforts will now be focused on assessing the damage to the low-pressure gas system, and inspection of gas equipment at proprieties.

The Massachusetts governor declared a state of emergency on Thursday after explosions along a natural gas distribution system killed one person and injured more than 25 others.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katerina Petroff in Frankfurt at kpetroff@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Kingdon at ckingdon@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann

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