Noel knocks out power to thousands in Massachusetts

CHATHAM, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Hurricane force-winds and rain -- the remnants of what was Hurricane Noel -- disrupted power for thousands of people across eastern Massachusetts Saturday night, a power company reported.

About "33,000 of our 1.1 million customers are without power due to the storm," NSTAR, a Massachusetts-based utility company said Saturday night.

The customers without power were "primarily on Cape Cod and in the south shore communities between Marshfield and Plymouth," the company said on its Web site, although it said it was addressing outages elsewhere in the state, including Boston.

CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said parts of coastal Massachusetts, such as the island of Nantucket, were still experiencing high winds, including gusts of 60 to 70 mph.

However, she said, "after midnight, we'll see some dramatic improvements" for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Watch I-Report video from storm »

CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, who was in Chatham, said New England residents were prepared for power outages and downed trees. "There were some pretty serious concerns earlier today this was going to cause a lot of trouble for people here," he said, citing prior concerns about high winds and coastal flooding.

"While there have been some reports of problems throughout the area, by and large this has just been a nasty...day outside," he said.

Noel emerged a week ago in the Caribbean Sea as a tropical storm before developing into a Category 1 hurricane four days later. Authorities blame then-Tropical Storm Noel for flooding and landslides that killed at least 64 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti earlier this week. Some 37,500 people were forced from their homes. See photos of Noel's destruction »

On Friday, the Miami, Florida-based National Hurricane Center predicted the storm would lose its tropical characteristics as it moved into the cooler waters of the Atlantic Ocean. When the storm became extratropical, it would no longer be formally considered a hurricane, according to the hurricane center.

Extratropical storms differ from subtropical ones in various technical characteristics relating to temperature and winds. E-mail to a friend

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