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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Gov. Charlie Baker is continuing to urge residents to stay off the roads amid Saturday's blizzard.
The National Weather Service reports snowfall totals have reached as high as 25 inches in some parts of the Commonwealth, with many areas seeing snowfall between one to two feet. Meanwhile, hurricane-force winds have been reported on Cape Cod, with wind gusts in West Dennis getting as high as 81 miles per hour.
Gov. Baker said the snow is expected to stop at around 11 p.m. but as the storm continues Saturday night, it is important for drivers to stay off the roads.
"While the snow may be moving out tonight that blowing snow and snow-packed roads will make travel extremely hazardous all night," Gov. Baker said. "Heavy snowfall rates and the strong wind gusts are going to cause continued white-out conditions and constantly changing topography in many places and that will be the case pretty much throughout the evening and into the morning."
Read More: Sea Of Power Outages Hit Parts Of Mass. Amid Nor'easter
As for road clean-up, Gov. Baker said MassDOT still has around 3,000 pieces of equipment out working to treat and clear the roads. A ban on tractor-trailers on the roads is still in effect until midnight.
"Crews have obviously been out all day but the conditions are making it really difficult to keep the roads clear for any significant period of time," Baker said. "For the most part, people have done a great job of staying home and off the roads."
As of 6:30 p.m. Saturday, just under 100,000 people are without power in Massachusetts. Gov. Baker said high wind gusts all around the Commonwealth will make it difficult for crews to repair downed power lines and help get residents' power back on.
"Those high winds are expected to continue pretty much all night which will have some impact on how fast people get around to getting out into the bucket trucks to deal with some of the power outages," Gov. Baker said.
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