Power outages affect local businesses

CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) -- Parts of Rhode Island looked like a ghost town on Thursday morning as some business owners lost power and were  forced to close down for the day.

Business owners at Cafe International in Cranston had to turn customers away on Thursday morning.

"Everybody is coming in for coffee, but we don't have hot coffee," said Marisol Awat.

The O.E. Place Tool Company had to fill their generator up three times. The owner says he lost $20,000 because of the power outage and doesn't know when it will be restored.

"It's a loss day. Customers can call in but our computers are down so we can't tell them the availability, we can't invoice," said owner Phil Place.

Down the road, Oakland Animal Hospital also had to turn business away.

"If anything that came in needed surgery, we would probably have to refer them to an animal hospital that had power," said Maria Tovar of Oakland Animal Hospital.

As of Thursday night, there were less than 100 customers state wide without power.