Hundreds Of Thousands Of Outages Still To Repair In Hudson Valley

Utility companies working through the night have begun reducing the large numbers of customers left without power by Isaias' destructive winds — almost as many as affected by Superstorm Sandy.

First, they had to make downed wires safe and coordinate with local crews to begin clearing debris from thousands of roads. Between the four utility companies that cover the lower and mid Hudson Valley, there are thousands of downed poles and wires reported.

Utilities warned customers that some should prepare for an extended outage.

As of Wednesday morning, Central Hudson crews had restored power to nearly 26,000 customers overnight. As of 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, roughly 89,000 customers were still without electricity, primarily in southern Dutchess County and Orange County:

• Dutchess: 42,350
• Orange: 31,800
• Putnam: 2,800
• Ulster: 11,250

Central Hudson lost online services at one point due to the storm. Services were restored after damaged equipment was repaired by an internet provider, company officials said.

Central Hudson expects crews to be working for the next several days, even into the weekend, to finish restoring power. The company reports 500 workers including tree personnel are out repairing a reported 1,170 damage locations.

At 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, Con Ed reported 119,484 customers still out, 95,054 of them in Westchester County. No restoration time was given on the website.

O&R reports 123,093 customers out of power in its service area. That includes 56,224 in Rockland County; 24,692 in Orange; and 3,311 in Sullivan County; as well as 42,259 customers in northern New Jersey.

Once all the outages are reported, O&R estimates that the storm damage will rank second only to Superstorm Sandy — at 250,000 customers affected — in O&R history.

As of 9:31 a.m. NYSEG reported 81,693 customers still out of power, most in Putnam and Westchester counties. There were 413 outages. Putnam residents reported trees down everywhere on local roads.

• Dutchess: 13,017
• Orange: 329
• Putnam: 34,024
• Westchester: 28,734

Company officials said crews work overnight to make safe downed wires, clear fallen debris from the roads and further assess the severity of damage. Current damage assessments indicate more than 1,000 downed wires and hundreds of broken poles occurred as a result of the storm.

Given the degree of damage, complete restoration is expected to last multiple days in the company’s Brewster division (Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties). As a result, the company will announce plans for ice and bottled water distribution Wednesday.

More than 1,200 field personnel are responding, with additional line and tree resources being added to support ongoing effort. The company is coordinating response efforts with state and local emergency management authorities.

Recognizing that many residents are currently home due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, for everyone’s safety, the company asks customers to observe a six-foot social distance if they must be near workers and always remain outside the work zone. Allowing crews to remain uninterrupted and focused on their work enables workers to determine damage and make repairs more quickly.