O&R Declares Storm Watch, Starts Prep For Sunday

PEARL RIVER, NY — O&R has declared a Storm Watch in response to the weather forecast for high winds and heavy rain expected to hit the Hudson Valley late Sunday afternoon through Monday. Utility officials warned that severe storm activity has the potential to cause power line damage and electric service interruptions.

A windy weekend is predicted, with rain on Sunday turning heavy between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. and continuing through the night. Increasingly high winds could get as high as 50 mph early Monday.

To prepare, O&R electric and gas crews are securing active work sites at the end of the day Friday to prevent wind and water damage.

Additional repair crews are scheduled for work throughout the service area on Saturday and Sunday, O&R officials said. Company and contractor overhead line crews and tree removal crews are preparing to ramp up for a high-volume outage response late Sunday and through Monday at least, as are damage assessment, site safety, customer service operations and the O&R teams that support those functions.

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.

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

SEE: Nor'Easter Conditions Possible On The 5th Anniversary Of Sandy

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