ATHOL — Following more than a day of continuous snowfall, crews continue the arduous process of digging out and restoring power to the area. 

All told, snowfall in Athol ranged around 8-12 inches in downtown to 18 in the uptown area, according to Department of Public Works Superintendent Richard Kilhart. The variation is due to the significant difference in elevation in these areas.

“It made for challenges in that regard,” he said, adding that it was a very different situation between the two.

According to the National Weather Service in Norton, totals in the area ranged from 19 inches in Phillipston to 31 inches in Royalston, reported Wednesday morning.

Kilhart said Wednesday morning that the roads had all been cleared, and sidewalks would be done Thursday or Friday, as the crews needed a rest. All plowing was done in-house, with staff from the highway, water and sewer, and transfer departments working the plows. Kilhart said each driver had an assigned route, which took four to five hours to finish. In addition to clearing the roads, plows also removed snow from parking lots in town. Kilhart praised the crews for doing a great job.

”They did an exceptional job and they have for a long time,” he said.

Throughout the area, schools, town halls, and libraries were closed on Tuesday. The Athol-Royalston schools were also closed on Wednesday, and the Ralph C. Mahar schools had a delayed opening. Montachusett Regional Vocational School was closed Wednesday, along with schools in Winchendon, Erving, Narragansett Regional and Franklin County Technical.

Phillipston Town Hall saw a delayed opening on Wednesday due to the amount of snowfall. Heywood Hospital closed several of its departments on Tuesday due to the weather, including Athol Primary Care, Tully Family Medicine, Heywood Urgent Care and Summit Family Practice.

Outages were a serious problem and even by Wednesday, several homes remained without power. According to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s outage map, Athol saw a total of 5,809 customers without power, and Petersham, Royalston, and Phillipston approximately 1,000 each. Orange had approximately 4,000 homes without power.

In a statement issued by National Grid, more than 95,000 customers have had service restored since the storm began, with roughly 14,000 without power Wednesday morning, mainly in the Berkshire, Worcester, Essex, Hampshire, Middlesex and Franklin counties. Additional crews were shifted to these areas and worked to restore power, combating damage in the area, including downed wires and damaged equipment.

“Our crews have been working through challenging conditions and remain dedicated to restoring customers as quickly as possible while keeping our teams and the public safe,” said Tanya Moniz-Witten, vice president of New England Electric Operations. “We are on track to restore most customers by tonight (Wednesday), and we will continue working until every last customer has had their service restored.”

The company has deployed more than 3,000 personnel to respond to the storm, removing downed wires, fallen trees and other hazards before restoring power by repairing lines and replacing poles and other equipment. The company brought in crews from nine states to assist with restoration efforts: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

“This remains a multi-day restoration event, and National Grid expects most customers affected by the outages will have their power restored by Wednesday night, while there will be some pockets without power into Thursday,” the statement read. “Crews will continue to work until every customer’s power is restored.”

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