Cuomo Directs State To Investigate Utilities' Isaias Response

NEW YORK STATE — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that he is directing state agencies to begin an investigation into how Con Edison, NYSEG, O&R, Central Hudson and other utilities responded to Tropical Storm Isaias.

Cuomo said he is directing the state Department of Public Service to launch an investigation into Verizon, Con Edison, Central Hudson Gas & Electric, Orange and Rockland Utilities, New York State Electric & Gas and PSEG Long Island to figure out where they went wrong with service restoration.

"We know that severe weather is our new reality and the reckless disregard by utility companies to adequately plan for tropical storm Isaias left tens of thousands of customers in the dark, literally and figuratively," Cuomo said. "Their performance was unacceptable."

Some leaders in the Hudson Valley have condemned the utility companies' response to the storm, which has left hundreds of thousands of people without power and without answers about when it will be restored.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said many municipal officials expressed anger during a conference call Wednesday with Con Ed. "As one official said, 'here we go again. Every time there is a storm we hear the same thing — crews are on the way. Why weren't resources put in place in advance of this outage?' Officials also complained that Con Ed did not have enough crews assigned to work around the clock."

He said he had received hundreds of calls, emails and text messages from very upset residents.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day offered take-aways from a conference call Wednesday with O&R.

"After taking part in a conference call with Orange and Rockland Utilities today it is clear that we all must prepare for the worst. Isaias did major damage to O&R’s transmission infrastructure and as you all have seen there is wide-spread damage in our County," Day said in a statement. "O&R made clear on the call that this will be a multi-day event and it is possible that residents will be without power here for as much as a week."

He said officials felt O&R's level of staffing was inadequate to deal with the effects of the storm and called on the company "to step up their game immediately."

SEE ALSO:

• Cleanup From Isaias Will Take Days: Rockland County Executive
• Mamaroneck Opens Cooling And Charging Centers
• Con Ed Hands Out Ice, Water In 2 Westchester Locations Wednesday
• 10,000 Without Power in Somers, Yorktown
• Cortlandt, Buchanan, Peekskill Power Outages At 5,747 After Storm
• Storm Aftermath Closes Putnam County
• New Rochelle Train Station Closed Due To Storm
• Nyack Working On Roads Closed By Tropical Storm Isaias
• Clarkstown Cleans Up After Tropical Storm Isaias
• Nannahagan Park Closed Due To Storm Damage
• Kingsland Point Park Closed In Aftermath Of Tropical Storm
• Metro-North Limits Harlem, New Haven Lines In Storm Aftermath
• Bedford Warns Residents Some Outages May Be Prolonged
• Hundreds Of Thousands Of Outages Still To Repair In Hudson Valley
• Storm Summary of Winds, Rain In The Hudson Valley