Crews Fight Storm To Repair Power To Rockland Customers

PEARL RIVER, NY — The fierce nor'easter known as the "bomb cyclone" knocked out power to 2,600 customers in Rockland County Thursday. O&R reported its crews fought wind-driven snow and hazardous driving conditions to repair storm damage to the electric system and restore service.

As of 4 p.m. overhead line crews were continuing to work to restore service to about 100 remaining affected customers. O&R’s day shift will be held over today to repair any lingering outages, and extra crews will remain on the job through the night to respond to any new outages that could arise, officials said.

O&R urges its customers to put safety first if confronted by storm-related damage.

High winds could snap tree limbs or topple trees onto power lines, causing customers to lose power. The resulting damaged equipment poses a potential safety risk. O&R urges customers to stay away from downed wires and transformers, and to take other safety precautions as needed.

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

• Go to www.oru.com from any computer or web-enabled mobile device;
• Download the O&R Mobile app through the App Store or Google Play Store;
• 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:

· 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 of the downed wire and keep pets on a leash. Assume all downed wires are live and that touching them poses a risk of serious injury or death.

· If a fallen wire is draped over a car, do not approach the car to 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.

· Stock up on non-perishable food, bottled water, manual can opener, baby supplies and pet food. Set your refrigerator and freezer controls to their coldest settings. Fill the bathtub with water.

· Have emergency equipment within reach --- portable radio, flashlights, spare batteries, first aid kit, cell phone and important medications. Update your personal list of emergency phone numbers.

· If you experience a power outage, don’t assume that O&R automatically knows about it or that someone else will report it. 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.

· If a family member relies on electrically operated medical devices, secure a portable generator or make alternate arrangements for care. O&R does not provide customers with generators.

· Keep at least a half-tank of gas in your car. Consider having extra cash on-hand, in case ATM machines don’t work.

· Learn how to manually open and close any electrically powered garage door, security door or gate.

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

PHOTO: O&R crews repair storm damage to the electric system on Red Schoolhouse Road in Chestnut Ridge Jan. 4, 2018./ O&R