NStar

UPDATE, 12:45 p.m.: Power started coming back on.

The same substation where a transformer exploded in March shorted out today, darkening stores, offices and homes across the Back Bay again and causing traffic havoc as signals went dead.

Power disappeared at 7:45 at Hemenway and Westland, our East Fens correspondent reports:

Damn it, we just refilled the fridge and fixed the computers.

Drew, however, reports:

Seems highly localized. I'm maybe 200 yards away and power on here (for now, anyhow).

A Fenway resident filed this photo of the Symphony Plaza East tower on Mass. Ave. tonight:

Night watchman told me NStar warned them. Been out for an hr, expecting it back in 30 min at 9pm. I hope NStar treats our elderly with more honesty and respect than the rest of us.

NStar has declared the Blackout of 2012 a "normal" event and won't pay anybody for their losses due to it, the Globe reports. "People normally have their own insurance," the company CEO said.

NStar reports it'll be shutting off power to 8,000 customers (and remember, each "customer" could represent several people) starting around 3 a.m. to reconnect them to the power grid:

Beacon to Boylston between Kenmore & Copley.

Around 5:30, the media started reporting that NStar had restored power to everybody affected by the Blackout of 2012.

At 6:45, though, I got e-mail from a Fenway resident:

East Fens still without power at Hemenway and Westland.

NStar is lying to the Mayor's Office and the media.

Parts of the Fenway did come back online early this morning. Nick Jacques reports power came back on along St. Stephen Street in the Fenway around 1:50 a.m. Mike Waring adds:

POWER!!!!... Just woke me up. I'm awesomely ok with this though. Hearing lots of "wooo hoo's" in the distance.

At least three manholes along Huntington Ave. exploded this afternoon, sending literal shudders through the nearby 101 Huntington, which has lapsed in and out of electrical service today.

At 3:46, Bonnie O. tweeted:

Why did we just hear and feel an explosion outside from inside 101 Huntington? Fire trucks outside near Marriott.

At NStar's request, Boston firefighters flooded one of the manholes with water. Traffic around the Pru, of course, immediately became a mess - police shut down Huntington and deployed fresh officers to the area to block off roads and try to divert drivers elsewhere.

The Herald reports on a Menino press conference.

Eric Andersen snapped this photo of a newly juiced up Citgo sign shortly before midnight.

Boston Police report that as of 4:15 a.m., NStar had restored power to Bay Village, Chinatown and the area east of Clarendon Street.

Police also provide a tip for motorists who find themselves at an intersection with no functioning traffic lights and no police to direct traffic, and no, it's not to re-create that scene from Gremlins:

Motorists are asked and instructed to treat the signal as a stop sign. As such, motorists should yield to traffic to their right before safely proceeding through the intersection.

The T reports the Prudential and Symphony stops on the Green Line remain closed.

The Citgo sign remains off, as does power in the rest of Kenmore Square.

Berklee, right between both the Dalton Street and TC's Lounge fires, has cancelled classes today.

At 9:13, Boston EMS tweeted the scene was clear of smoke.

An explosion in a building housing two large transformers next to the Back Bay Hilton's parking garage at 40 Dalton St. sparked a three-alarm fire that filled the area with toxic black smoke just a block from the earlier fire at TC's Lounge, forced the evacuation of a large hotel and caused power outages throughout the Back Bay and surrounding neighborhoods.

Darkness in the heart of town: Garrett Quinn interviews survivors.

Julie Loncich reports 20,000 NStar customers lost power in the Back Bay, the South End, Chinatown and Kenmore Square - and that they could be without power through Wednesday.

Firefighters, police and NStar workers are on scene on Massachusetts Avenue by the Berklee construction site, where a backhoe took out some underground power conduits around 9 a.m., causing a power outage that extends to Northeastern and Bay State Road. The backhoe operator was apparently injured, but not critically.

Roving UHub reporter Chelsea reports:

Saw flashes then puff of smoke at mass ave and belvedere

The city reports a power outage in the area of Brighton and Harvard avenues. NStar is on scene.

Superguppy reports power is out along Hyde Park Avenue from Ukraine Way to Walk Hill Street tonight - the same area that had a planned outage on Oct. 14 for NStar to do some maintenance work.

Power is out along Warren Street from at least Montrose Street to Elm Hill Avenue, where firefighters responded to a report of a flaming manhole shortly before 9 a.m.

The state reports that as of 6:30 a.m., nearly 140,000 Massachusetts customers remain without electricity - NStar 36,000 (about 850 in Boston) and National Grid 103,643.

NStar town-by-town numbers | National Grid map.

The Globe follows an NStar crew for a day and talks to National Grid about why Gillette Stadium got power before the rest of Foxboro.

Around 7 this morning, Andrea Courtois, who lives near the Rhode Island line but works in Brighton, tweeted:

Just saw a convoy of utility trucks heading S on 95. It pretty much brought tears to my eyes.

In Scituate, Art Beecher reports:

Day 4 w/o power: Have begun harboring deep resentment for these show-offs with their fancy "lights," "refrigeration," and "hot water."

Town-by-town outage numbers and estimated full restoration times.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reports that as of 7 a.m., 91,021 NStar and 339,947 National Grid electricity customers were without power.

Fire Department alarm operations center. Photo by BFD.

UPDATE: City increased estimate of number of customers without power Sunday evening.

The mayor's office reports some 5,000 11,000 NStar customers in Boston are without power and that it's "possible that some outages could last days."

Meanwhile, city crews received roughly 500 reports of downed trees and tree limbs across the city (including this one in Roslindale).

The Boston Fire Department reports firefighters responded to calls across the city, but especially in West Roxbury, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain and Allston-Brighton.

Roslindale Square residents and business lost power for several hours last night; some reports this morning indicate the power still isn't back on at a steady rate.

Ed Grzyb reported around 8:45 a.m. that his power continues to flicker and that "my computers have been going haywire." The state reports the Roslindale Registry branch is closed "until further notice," although it's blaming Verizon problems.

Stephanie-Marie reports:

We lost power on Bexley at 9:30 last night and it was on and off all night, no electricity when I left for work this morning.

Cummins Highway at 1:30 a.m.

The mayor's office reports 2,800 customers in Dorchester just lost power.

Samantha Hammar reports Charlestown just blinked out as well.

Earlier in the after, much smaller sections of Roslindale and West Roxbury lost power for a bit as well.

UPDATE: Power came back on around 10:45 p.m., Liz O'Donnell reports.

Around 10 p.m. Mike P. tweets:

Power went out 2x, came back. Big whoosh sound & a FLASH through the shades, & it's REALLY out now.

Liz Fong tweeted:

Saw a big lightning-like flash when it went out.

She adds the emergency generator at Somerville Hospital seems to be working; it has lights.

City Councilor Mike Ross reported around 6:15 p.m. that 900 of the 1,114 Mission Hill residents who lost power have their lights back. Nstar is bringing in generators for some customers whose problems will take longer to fix.

Channel 7 reports Nstar crews this morning were continuing to try to stop an underground wire under Bolton Street from smoldering. Nearby residents had to be evacuated last night due to high carbon-monoxide levels from the wires.

The Boston Fire Department reports fire crews responded shortly after 9 p.m. to 305 Bolton St.

Power finally back on at about 8:15. Has been off since we returned home just before 4:00. Not sure how long it was off prior to that.

Beech Street in the vicinity of the Mozart School.