UPDATE: Power Restored to Most O&R Customers

UPDATE 6PM: O&R crews have restored electric service to more than 16,000 customers whose power had been knocked out earlier today by a late autumn storm system, featuring high winds and wet snow, that is sweeping through the area today, continuing into tomorrow.

PEARL RIVER, NY — O&R reports that crews have restored electric service to more than 14,000 customers whose power had been knocked out earlier Sunday by a late autumn storm system, featuring high winds and wet snow, that is sweeping through the area, continuing into Monday.

O&R declared a Storm Alert early this morning and mobilized all available company overhead line crews, contractors and Con Edison crews to make repairs and restore electric service as a result of the storm’s damage.

At this hour, about 1,400 customers remain out of service at about 70 damage locations. O&R crews will continue their work until all customers whose power can be restored have their lights back on.

Follow this link for a brief video description of O&R’s service restoration process.

These outage numbers are as of 1:30 pm today. For the most current numbers, visit O&R’s Outage Map at www.oru.com.

Current outages by county and state:

Rockland County, NY --- 205

Orange County, NY --- 564

Sullivan County, NY--- 357

Bergen County, NJ--- 523

Sussex County, NJ--- 0

Passaic County, NJ --- 217

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

• Go to www.oru.com 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

Go to www.oru.com/mobileconnect to learn more about our mobile communication options.

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.