Pre-Storm Hudson Valley Power Restoration Update Tuesday Night

With a new nor'easter bearing down on the Hudson Valley, utility crews raced to restore power to the 40,000 customers still without electricity due to damage from Friday's nor'easter. At the same time, they worked on storm prep for the big snowstorm predicted to drop a foot of snow on the region Wednesday.

• O&R: 2,886 customers awaited repairs as of 8 p.m.
• NYSEG: 15,407 Dutchess, Putnam, Westchester customers still out as of 8:23 p.m.
• Central Hudson: 410 customers waiting as of 8:30 p.m.
• Con Ed: 20,638 Westchester customers still out as of 8:29 p.m.

At a briefing Tuesday, Westchester County Executive George Latimer said that some of the electrical fixes are meant to be temporary, so the region is now heading into another storm with temporary fixes. He said the individuals doing the work for Con Edison and NYSEG have been outstanding. “At the top is where the failure is.”

Crews first focused on repairs that provided power to the most customers and to critical facilities, such as hospitals, municipal pumping stations and schools. Then they moved on and made repairs to restore smaller groups and individual customers. Meanwhile other crews worked to remove substantial amounts of wood debris from roadways. People involved in restoring power, line repair, site safety and planning, include mutual aid workers, who are from as far away as Canada, Texas and Wisconsin.

Con Edison said it has restored power to 124,000 of the 140,000 customers affected in Westchester County and New York City combined. The company expects to complete restoration to 90 percent of Westchester customers affected by Riley by 11 tonight. Westchester customers can go to: http://bit.ly/2D51a50 for information on restoration efforts in their communities.

More than 150,000 local NYSEG customers have had their power restored, out of 185,000 customers restored statewide as of Tuesday, the company said. The company currently has more than 2,000 personnel committed to safely restoring power to the majority of customers in Delaware, Dutchess, Putnam, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties by 11:45 p.m. This includes an additional 340 crews and contractors who began Tuesday on restoration efforts. NYSEG also has additional overnight crews who will continue restoration work and be ready to respond to other weather related emergencies.

Meanwhile, the forecast calls for a snowy nor’easter named Quinn to hit the New York area starting Tuesday and into Wednesday.

SEE:

• Hour-By-Hour: How The Hudson Valley Gets To 12"+ Of Snow
  
• Hudson Valley Closings/Delays List — 3/7/18
  

The utility companies warn that snow could bring tree branches into contact with overhead power lines and cause additional outages. The mix of melting snow and road salt can get into the underground electrical delivery system and cause equipment problems and customer outages.

Also, remember that heavy, wet snow may hide downed power lines and people should venture outside with extreme caution.

Lead photo via Con Ed