O&R Declares Storm Watch For Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend

PEARL RIVER, NY — O&R declared a Storm Watch Friday over the winter nor’easter that is expected to wallop the region Saturday night through the long weekend.

Storm activity, particularly the predicted high winds, heavy snow and freezing rain, has the potential to cause power line damage and electric service interruptions. Bitter cold will cause problems for anyone who loses power.

O&R crews will be ready to respond to those events, officials said. Company and contractor overhead line crews and tree removal crews are ramping up for a high-volume outage response to the storm, as are damage assessment, site safety, customer service operations and the wide array of O&R teams that support those functions.

In addition to its company crews, O&R has hired 200 additional overhead line technicians to supplement its own field forces to repair damage and restore service interruptions resulting from this event.

Weather forecasters expect O&R’s service area to get 6 – 12 inches or more of heavy, wet snow with as much as 20 inches in higher northern elevations. On Sunday, snow is expected to change to a wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain, and then change back to snow in some areas.

Winds are expected to blow 5-15 mph, gusting to 30 mph on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Strong northwest winds, with gusts of 40 mph, and bitterly cold temperatures are expected Sunday afternoon into early Monday morning.

Wind chill values Monday morning could be as low as 20 degrees below zero.

Due to the uncertainty about the precipitation amounts, and type and timing of the change from wet snow to freezing rain, the impact of the event could be much greater than the current estimates imply.

To prepare for the severe weather, O&R electric and gas crews are securing active work sites today to prevent wind and water damage from the predicted storm.

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

• Go to the O&R website 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

SEE: Power Outages Possible In Rockland With 2 Storms: O&R

Image via National Weather Service