O&R Tackling Outages In Wednesday Nor'easter

PEARL RIVER, NY — O&R company, contractor, mutual aid and tree crews are repairing damage and restoring electric service to approximately 6,000 customers whose power has been knocked out by the winter nor’easter blowing through the region Wednesday.

O&R is on Storm Alert and is prepared to respond to outages as they occur, company officials said.

Earlier, O&R dispatched 125 more line technicians to help the O&R crews currently working in Sullivan County to restore power to customers who lost service as a result of the first destructive winter nor’easter Friday.

The latest forecasts are calling for moderate to heavy snow through the day Wednesday into early Thursday. Sustained winds of 10-25 mph with gusts of 35-40 mph are expected. Snow accumulation may range between 10-15 inches.

With potential damage and resulting outages that can be caused by severe weather, customers are asked to please remember to:

• Put your safety and the safety of your children first at all times. Maintain a distance of at least 50 feet from downed wires and anything they are in contact with, including puddles and fences.
• Never touch or approach any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free at 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.
• 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.
• Remember: if the base station of your cordless phone plugs into the wall, your phone will be unusable during a power outage.
• 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 the company know what happened. The more information you can provide, the more O&R can help you.

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

• Go to the O&R website 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

PHOTO/ Lanning Taliaferro (Patch staff)