Travel Ban Ri Remains as Rhode Island Battles Record Blizzard, Tens of Thousands Lose Power
Gov. Dan McKee has kept the state of emergency and travel ban in place through Tuesday morning, saying the restrictions will be reassessed then to allow plow crews and utility crews to make progress. The move matters because crews are confronting heavy winds, blocked roadways and widespread outages that will require multi-day restoration efforts.
Travel Ban Ri to be Reassessed Tuesday Morning by Gov. Dan McKee
McKee said the travel ban and state of emergency will remain in effect through Tuesday morning and that officials will reassess conditions then. State offices will remain closed through Tuesday afternoon because of blizzard impacts. In a morning briefing, the governor urged residents to stay off the roads during the storm’s peak, saying crashes and disabled tractor-trailers are diverting critical resources: "That cannot continue. We need to stay off the roads. Let’s respect everyone’s safety out there. " He added that the majority of residents are complying, and that plows are clearing roads when visibility allows.
Rhode Island Energy Power Outages and 72-Hour Restoration Estimate
Rhode Island Energy crews planned to begin damage assessment late Monday afternoon, and the company warned restoration will be a multi-day effort. The utility estimated it may take up to 72 hours to restore power for some customers, meaning work could extend into Thursday for the worst-hit locations. At about 10 a. m., officials placed the outage at around 50, 000 Rhode Island Energy customers without power.
One widely circulated headline listed a different outage figure — 21, 156 customers without power — while utility officials were citing the larger, roughly 50, 000 count at about 10 a. m. Rhode Island Energy President Greg Cornett said restoration crews are staged statewide but that repairs cannot proceed while winds are gusting. "Currently we are only able to deal with 911 and public safety issues because of extreme winds, " he said, and noted crews will do damage assessment this afternoon and evening before broader-scale restoration begins. Cornett also said the agency expects a couple dozen additional crews from Pennsylvania to arrive Tuesday morning depending on I-95 conditions.
Road Clearance: 500 Plow Trucks and Stalled Vehicles Hampering Effort
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation interim director, Robert Rocchio, said the state and its vendors have about 500 plow trucks working around the clock. He described crews contending with limited visibility, downed trees, heavy winds and stuck or abandoned vehicles, including tractor-trailers, that are impeding the ability to clear roadways. The cleanup, Rocchio cautioned, will take time.
Road paralysis and stuck municipal plows have created additional strain. Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency Director Marc Pappas said some cities and towns have plows getting stuck and that crews are having to assist EMS and police to maintain critical access. "We are seeing some paralysis on some of the roads. Very hard to get by, and in some cases, impossible to get by, " he said, stressing that predicted conditions have materialized.
Snow in Narragansett and Timing of Assessments
Snow conditions were noted in Narragansett on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, as agencies staged damage-assessment efforts for late Monday afternoon and early evening. The timing matters because assessments must wait for winds to subside before broader restoration can begin, which directly drives the expected multi-day outage timeline.
Emergency Communications and Website Notices
As the storm unfolded, some digital access points showed simple access messages. One site displayed "We're verifying you are human. This may take a few seconds. " Another major local news site presented a browser-not-supported notice telling readers to download a modern browser for the best experience. Those messages reflect access interruptions users encountered while seeking real-time updates.
The governor and emergency officials emphasized a clear cause-and-effect chain: extreme winds and blocked roadways are preventing damage assessment and line repairs, which in turn prolongs outages and forces officials to keep the travel ban and state of emergency in effect. What makes this notable is the convergence of high winds, stranded vehicles and limited visibility that together freeze both road- and grid-restoration efforts, producing a layered operational challenge for crews and first responders.
