High Wind Warning, Power Outages In Rockland

More than 2,000 of Orange and Rockland Utilities's customers in New York and New Jersey had lost power by 10 p.m. Sunday as a low pressure system and a tropical storm collided over the Hudson Valley. At about 9:40 p.m., O&R was working on restoring power to 127 customers without electricity in Rockland County Sunday night.

According to O&R's outage map, the outages as of 9:30 p.m. should be restored by midnight.

Hudson Valley Weather said the strongest winds would be east of the Hudson River and would hit the region between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. In Rockland, wind gusts between 20 mph and 40 mph are expected.

The National Weather Service added a High Wind Warning for the county to its notices.

Hazardous Weather Conditions

• Flash Flood Watch until October 30, 06:00 AM EDT
• Hazardous Weather Outlook
• High Wind Warning in effect from October 29, 06:00 PM EDT until October 30, 06:00 AM EDT
• Flood Warning until October 30, 12:00 AM EDT

O&R issued a statement at 10 p.m.:

O&R has restored power to more than 2,000 customers since declaring a storm alert earlier today, and is prepared for severe weather conditions to come. O&R’s field and contractor crews, customer service representatives and support employees throughout the company will remain alert for high-volume service outages based on the latest weather forecast for heavy rains and winds tonight and into Monday.

There are several ways customers can report outages and check service restoration status:

• Go to www.oru.com/outage from any computer or web-enabled mobile device;
• Use the O&R mobile app from your iPhone, iPad or Android device;
• Text “OUT” to 69678 (myORU); or
• Call Customer Assistance at 1-877- 434-4100

To help customers prepare to weather a storm, O&R offers these tips

• For safety’s sake, don’t touch or approach any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free 1-877- 434-4100. Depending on the situation, you may also want to call your local police to divert traffic until an O&R crew arrives.
• Maintain a distance of at least 50 feet from downed wires and anything they are in contact with including puddles of water and fences. Supervise your children so that they are not in the vicinity and keep pets on a leash or otherwise secure.
• If a fallen wire is draped over a car, do not approach the car and make rescue attempts. Remain a safe distance away, and try to keep the occupant of the vehicle calm. If possible, emergency personnel should handle the situation.
• Have emergency equipment within reach – portable radio, flashlights, spare batteries, first aid kit, cell phone and important medications. Keep O&R’s toll-free number 1-877- 434-4100 near the phone to report power outages.
• If you experience a power outage, don’t assume that O&R automatically knows about it or that someone else will report it. To be sure the outage is reported, please call O&R toll-free at 1-877- 434-4100 to let O&R know what happened. The more information you can provide, the more O&R can help you.
• Remember: if the base station of your cordless phone plugs into the wall, your phone will be unusable during a power outage.