UPDATE: Clarkstown Still Hit Hard By O&R Power Outages

Outages in Orange County are down to 150 O&R customers, as of 9:35 p.m. Monday

There are 1,577 Rockland customers who are waiting for the power to come back on.

The vast majority are in Clarkstown, where 1,127 do not have power.

PEARL RIVER, NY — Because of the increasingly severe winds raking the region and their resulting damage to the overhead electric system, O&R has upgraded its mobilization status to Storm Alert and is deploying all available field crews to repair damage and restore service.

O&R crews and contractors have been making repairs and restoring service since dawn today. About 12,100 customers have experienced outages at one time or another today.

As of 1:30 p.m., about 5,500 customers had been restored to service and roughly 6,600 were out.

For the most current numbers, visit O&R’s Outage Map at www.oru.com.

Current number of customers out of service by county and state:

Rockland County, NY --- 2,472

Orange County, NY --- 1,334

Sullivan County, NY--- 1,992

Bergen County, NJ --- 455

Sussex County, NJ --- 35

Passaic County, NJ --- 228

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

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.