Central Hudson Crews Nearing Completion in Restoring Electric Service to Customers Impacted by Powerful Snowstorms
Repair efforts in last stages, largely focused on individual streets and homes
Electric service has been restored to more than 99 percent of the 150,000 Central Hudson customers impacted by last week’s severe storms. Central Hudson crews, supplemented by mutual aid crews from outside the region, continued to restore service to the remaining pockets of localized outages today, and repair work will continue through the night. Although electric service to the vast majority of remaining customers is expected to be brought on-line tonight, the utility anticipates some remaining work in remote and hard-hit areas will extend into Thursday. Customers having repair work performed by their electrical contractor should call Central Hudson once that work is completed so a crew can be dispatched to reconnect service.
Of the approximately 1,200 customers that remain without service Wednesday evening, outages were located by county as follows: Dutchess: 120; Greene: 9; Orange: 420; Putnam 24; Sullivan: 235; and Ulster: 400. Outage locations by municipality may be found in the StormCentral section of the Central Hudson website (www.CentralHudson.com) by clicking in order on the “Outage Map,” “Summary,” and “Outages by County” tabs, and then selecting an individual county to review. Video footage of Central Hudson crews working in the snows of Greene County on snowshoes and other restoration footage can also be viewed in the StormCentral section, beneath the “Whiteout!” tab.
The repair work is focused on the labor- and time-intensive phase of restoring electricity one neighborhood or home at a time. New cases of trouble continued to be identified as crews work through neighborhoods, and officials are urging residents still without power to contact Central Hudson to report their power condition. Customers may contact the utility by calling (845) 452-2700 or 1 (800) 527-2714.
Important Safety Reminders:
Customers are requested to continue to check on frail or elderly neighbors, relatives or friends, especially any who may rely on electrically operated life-sustaining equipment. All local residents are reminded to stay clear of downed or sagging wires – they could be lethal. As fallen wires may be hidden by trees, snow banks or debris, extreme caution should be used when moving through an outage zone. If a power line falls on a vehicle, occupants should stay inside and wait for rescue crews. Customers should not heat their homes with an unvented heater, gas range or any similar appliance, as they can produce deadly carbon monoxide. Generators should be operated only in a vented, dry location; outdoor gas grills should never be used to heat indoors because they pose a fire hazard and can give off deadly carbon monoxide gas.
For updates, safety tips and more information on service restoration, visit www.CentralHudson.com.
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