Following is a message from Michael Sweeton, Town Supervisor:
Residents, this is the latest message from O&R. They are clearly overwhelmed, however, we continue to push for a more rapid response. We will be on a call with them again today and will press for more resources for our area. Their priority is to restore lines that gets power back to the largest number of customers first, so those on some of our more remote roads should prepare to be out several more days unfortunately.
PEARL RIVER, NY August 5, 2020, 10:00 pm – O&R crews have restored power to over 120,000 customers who lost service due to Tropical Storm Isaias. The vast majority of customers who lost power – over 213,000 — will have it back by Tuesday, August 11 at 11 p.m.
O&R follows an established restoration process to help restore power safely. Today, O&R proceeded on a number of important fronts to continue assessing damage, addressing public safety issues, clearing critical roads and restoring locations that provide critical services such as hospitals, nursing homes and police and fire stations. The next step is to move on to restore power to the lines and equipment that will bring power back to the most people in the fewest hours possible. After that, as soon as we can, we restore all other customers who have lost power.
The following video describes the typical storm repair and power restoration process: https://youtu.be/JeGU8ID4_m0
O&R’s entire workforce has been fully mobilized to restore service, support field work and address customer needs. In addition to O&R’s crews, restoration efforts are being bolstered by over 150 additional contractor overhead line technicians. An additional 86 contractor crews are expected tomorrow and O&R is seeking another 680 overhead line technicians from its mutual aid and contractor partners.
For the most up-to-date outage information, please go to O&R’s Outage Map. Here are the customer outage numbers as of 10:00 p.m. today:
NEW YORK — 56,028
Rockland: 35,936
Orange: 16,744
Sullivan: 3,348
NEW JERSEY — 36,433
Bergen: 29,097
Passaic: 7,231
Sussex: 105
Important Safety Tips
- Don’t go near any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free at 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.
- Pole-top transformers — those small grey-colored metal drums attached to the wires at the tops of most utility poles — also should be avoided when they have been knocked to the ground.
- Portable generators pose a serious hazard if used improperly. They should be used and installed according to the manufacturer’s instructions. A wrong connection could feed electricity back through the lines and endanger our repair crews. Never plug a generator into a wall unit, use it indoors or set it up outdoors near open home windows or air-handling vents.
- 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.
- Remember: if the base station of your cordless phone plugs into the wall, your phone will be unusable during a power outage.
As an added safety precaution, O&R personnel have been instructed to practice social distancing with each other and members of the public when responding to emergency calls in an attempt to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. O&R asks members of the public as well to maintain appropriate social distancing when they encounter O&R employees working in the field, to provide for mutual safety