Isaias: Half Of O&R Customers In Rockland County Without Power

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — After Tropical Storm Isaias battered the Hudson Valley Tuesday, O&R reported 136,833 of its customers were without power, including 32 percent of Orange County, 48 percent of Rockland County and 60 percent of its customers in northern New Jersey.

Crews were evaluating the outages, O&R was not issuing restoration estimates as of 5:30 p.m.

The outages spread exponentially as Isaias' heaviest winds pummeled the region Tuesday afternoon.

At 1:36 p.m., O&R reported 15,624 customers without power in Rockland County and 8,958 without power in Orange County — and that was up from 5,120 customers without power in Rockland County as of 2:15 p.m., and 1,403 in Orange County.

At 10:30 a.m., the company reported only 11 customers out in Rockland and 2 in Orange.

Between midnight and 11 a.m., the company restored electric service to 2,560 customers whose power was knocked out by overnight storm activity. The largest single outage was caused by a tree that was knocked down by wind onto overhead electric wires in Pomona.

A company spokesman said the utility company, part of Con Ed, mobilized a full complement of company and contractor overhead line technicians and tree removal experts to expedite system repairs.