15K Customers Still Without Power In Putnam

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — NYSEG officials said they expect to make significant progress Friday restoring power to the remaining 15,202 customers without electric service in Putnam County.

They said the company was able to repair its most crucial damaged transmission lines on Thursday, paving the way for restoration efforts to increase on the customer distribution network. Another seven transmission lines remain out of service in the Dutchess-Putnam-Westchester division, but they do not contribute to any customer outages.

Still out in NYSEG territory:

• Brewster - 58
• Carmel - 5,192
• Kent - 3,852
• Patterson - 1,413
• Putnam Valley - 2,060
• Southeast - 2,589

The company previously announced that it expects that 95 percent of customers will have power restored by 11 p.m. Monday.

Central Hudson Gas & Electric reported that 90 percent of the customers who lost power in Tropical Storm Isaias have had power restored. At the peak of the outage, more than 116,000 homes and businesses were without power, making it the fourth-most severe storm in the area in Central Hudson’s history.

In CenHud territory, 38 customers were out as of 12:10 p.m.

Residents are reminded about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Bureau of Emergency Services Commissioner Ken Clair reported that there have been 51 calls for carbon monoxide alarms since the onset of Tropical Storm Isaias.

"Of great concern is that of the 51 calls, all 51 of them actually had high carbon monoxide readings," Clair said. "Imagine if just one of those alarms hadn’t gone off."

An odorless, colorless gas, carbon monoxide can cause sudden illness and death and is produced whenever a fossil fuel, such as gasoline, propane or natural gas, is burned.