Progress Update: 75K+ Still In The Dark In Hudson Valley

Electrical crews continue to work throughout the Hudson Valley to restore more than 75,500 households still without power since Friday’s nor’easter worked its way across the region. Monday morning there were about 102,000 customers in the dark, and crew were able to restore a quarter of them during the day. And time is indeed of the essence because the Hudson Valley is facing another nor’easter beginning Tuesday night and continuing through Wednesday. At its peak, more than 2 million people were off the electrical grid since the storm hit.

Almost 7,000 Con Edison customers got their power back since Monday morning. However, more than 33,000 are still in the dark Monday night, as of 7:45 p.m.

Even Yorktown, which earlier Monday still had more than half of its 8,000 households off the grid, has seen some improvement over the course of the day.

According to the Con Edison website, all Westchester customers should be back with electricity by 11 p.m. Tuesday, March 6. But about half of the communities have an estimated restoration time of 11 p.m. Monday, March 5.

For more information, go to Con Edison’s website here.

NYSEG got more than 13,000 households back on line over the course of the day Monday. However, there are still more than 35,000 customers without power.

That, however, is not good enough for Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

He issued a statement Monday afternoon that said that Westchester residents are still sleeping in cold homes with no lights and downed power lines right outside their doors.

“I find this disgusting,” Latimer said. “I am outraged at both Con Edison and NYSEG’s slow and inadequate response. The people of Westchester, who pay both Con Edison and NYSEG for their services, deserve better.”

Westchester has more than 16,000 NYSEG customers in the dark; Putnam, 15,285; Dutchess, 3,530; and Ulster, 165.

NYSEG is still saying that more than 90 percent of customers will be restored by 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 6.

For Monday March 5, overnight shelters for individuals who can't go to friends or family will be at Putnam Hospital Center from the hours of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. only and Garrison Fire House from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. only.

There will be comfort stations in Putnam County Tuesday as follows:

• Kent Town Hall will be open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• The German American Club in Putnam Valley will be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Patterson Recreation will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Temple Beth Shalom will be open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• The Knights of Columbus in Carmel will be open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Carmel Town Hall 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

NYSEG outage information can be found here.

O&R continues to restore customers in Orange and Rockland. As of Monday night, there are still more than 1,200 households in the dark, down from 1,906 Monday morning.

To contact, O&R about an outage, go here.

Central Hudson reports that power has been restored to more than 90 percent of its customers as of Monday night.

Locally, Central Hudson has cut the number of households by almost half since Monday morning. There are 5,600 customers without electricity Monday evening, down from more than 11,000.

The towns of Clinton, Hyde Park and Washington are still hardest hit.

All customers in Dutchess should be restored by 10 p.m. Tuesday, March 6.

Putnam’s 19 outages should be back on line by 10 p.m. Monday, March 5. Ulster’s 217 should be restored by 10 p.m. Tuesday. March 6.

Photo caption: Crews working in Mahopac, NY March 3, 2018. Photo credit: Lanning Taliaferro/Patch Staff.