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Utility crews worked overnight in the area to restore service to more than 5,000 homes and businesses on Monday night, Feb. 15 that left thousands of businesses without power in the area.
As of around 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16, Central Hudson was still working to repair 55 active outages that were impacting nearly 3,000 customers.
A total of 1,397 outages were reported in Ulster County, with 839 in Dutchess, 488 in Sullivan County, and 23 in Greene County.
“We know how important electric service is to our customers, especially during the winter months," Ryan Hawthorne, Vice President of Electric Engineering and Operations at Central Hudson said. “Our team of 275 line and tree professionals, along with hundreds of employees working in support roles are working as safely and efficiently as possible.
"We expect to have most if not all homes and businesses that are currently without power restored by this evening.
“I’d also like to remind customers that our crews are practicing social distancing in an effort to keep our communities safe,” he added. “We appreciate everyone’s patience as we make repairs in these hazardous conditions.”
Orange & Rockland is reporting four active outages, impacting 41 (39 in Sullivan, two in Orange County) customers, while NYSEG was restoring power to 1,329 customers in Sullivan, with other outages reported in Orange County and Westchester.
"Orange & Rockland is mobilizing its emergency response team for deployment to repair damage and restore electric service outages that could result from an ice storm that is predicted to glaze O&R’s service area tonight with as much as a half-inch of ice in some locations," the company announced on Monday night.
"To supplement that effort, (O&R) has obtained approximately 100 additional overhead line technicians, increasing its emergency response field forces by approximately 70 percent today.
"In addition to the approximately 100 mutual aid workers, O&R company and contractor overhead line crews and tree removal experts are ramping up to deploy as are customer service operations and the wide array of O&R teams that support those functions."
According to the utility companies, complete restoration across the Hudson Valley is expected no later than 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
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