Power outage at Boston women’s shelter forces temporary closure

A power outage at a women’s shelter in Boston is forcing more than a hundred people to be temporarily moved into different programs Thursday night. 

The power outage at the city-run Woods Mullen shelter started around 3 a.m. Thursday morning as a result of a leak in the building, according to the Boston Public Health Commission. In a statement Thursday evening, the city said crews are continuing to work on restoring power to the building near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. 

“We are working to restore power as soon as possible to the Woods-Mullen shelter,”  Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said in a statement. “I want to thank BPHC staff and our provider partners for being so responsive to this unexpected situation and supporting women in vulnerable situations through this stressful event with minimal disruption.”

An estimated 160 women who rely on the shelter are being temporarily moved to other provider programs and transitional shelters for the evening, according to the public health commission.