O&R Works to Restore Service to 1,300 Customers Who Lost Power Due to Severe Windstorm

By Chana Weinman

Orange and Rockland Utilities (O&R) crews will be out and about repairing storm damage and restoring electric service to the remaining 1,300 customers who lost power last night and this morning when heavy winds and rain pummeled the region.

O&R estimates that power should be restored to 95% of the customers affected by this weather event by 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. Approximately 17,860 O&R customers’ electric service was impacted throughout the duration of the rain and windstorm.

O&R company and contractor overhead line crews and tree removal experts, customer service operators and the rest of the members of the O&R emergency response team began mobilization efforts at 6:00 p.m. yesterday evening.

Once the weather clears enough to safely assess damage and begin electric service restoration, O&R reports that its crews will give priority to clearing downed wires blocking roads and making repairs to critical and emergency facilities (police and fire stations, and hospitals, for example) and to those locations where the repair will provide power to the largest number of customers as quickly as possible. Then, crews will restore smaller outages and individual customers’ outages.