UPDATE: Power Outages Under Repair in Rockland

UPDATE, 8: 22 p.m. O&R reported 87 customers without power in New City. A damage assessment is in progress and no restoration time was given.

NEW CITY, NY — Orange & Rockland Utilities is reporting outages across Rockland County Monday afternoon. Most are in Clarkstown. One neighborhood off Union Road has more than 300 customers without power.

O&R estimates power will be restored by 5 p.m.

The utility company declared a Storm Watch earlier Monday, saying it was ready to repair storm damage and restore service as needed.

O&R company and contractor overhead line crews are ramping up now to respond to outages as are damage assessment, site safety, customer service operations and the wide array of O&R teams that support those functions.

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 its 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.

For more information, visit O&R’s Storm Center at www.oru.com.