Updated: NYSEG at 87 Percent Restored, Watching Storm

NYSEG released this update Tuesday afternoon:

The first of 40 crews from British Columbia will join the growing NYSEG power restoration team today in the company’s Brewster Division. The new additions will bring the crew count in NYSEG’s downstate service areas, including the company’s Liberty Division, to more than 600.

The team that now totals 3,500 members, has restored service to 66,232 (87%) of the 75,738 customers who lost power in the Brewster Division (parts of Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties) and 27,574 (96%) of the 28,772 customers who lost power in the Liberty Division (parts of Sullivan, Orange, Delaware and Ulster counties) as a result of unprecedented damage from Hurricane Sandy.

“Our goal continues to be to restore all service safely and as quickly as possible,” said Mark S. Lynch, president of NYSEG and RG&E. “Even though the number of our customers without power is steadily declining, we will continue to bring in more crews so we can finish strong.”

As the massive restoration effort continues, NYSEG emergency planners are preparing for the possible impact of a developing storm that is expected to arrive Wednesday night. Although this storm now appears to be tracking further off the coast than was originally forecast, the company is ensuring that the resources and materials are in place to deal with any additional damage to its electricity delivery system.

Tuesday, 6 a.m.

NYSEG reports that 9,700 customers are without power in Westchester County, , according to the utility's Monday night press release.

The majority of customers without power are concentrated in Bedford, Pound Ridge, Lewisoboro and Somers.

Over 3,400 utility crew members have restored service to 82 percent of the 75,738 customers who lost power in the company’s Brewster Division (parts of Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties) and 94 percent of the 28,772 customers who lost power in the company’s Liberty Division (parts of Sullivan, Orange, Delaware and Ulster counties) as a result of damage from Hurricane Sandy.

NYSEG crews—over 600 of them from around the U.S. and Canada—have also replaced 740 of the 921 utility poles broken during the storm, according to the press release. Crews also worked in partnership with the town of Lewisboro to restore power to all schools including installing a generator at Meadow Pond Elementary school, which is also a polling place.

The power company said it would continue to distribute dry ice and bottled water for the duration of the event.

On fluctuating restoration times listed on the company's outage map, officials said "outage numbers sometimes increase for a brief time as a result of switching to return circuits to normal configuration." The information may also change if weather or other circumstances cause additional outages or if we locate previously unknown damage to our system.

Power company officials have said they are also preparing for the possible impact of a developing storm that is expected to arrive Wednesday night.

“We are closely monitoring forecasts and ensuring that we have resources and materials in place to deal with any further damage to our facilities,” said Mark S. Lynch, president of NYSEG and RG&E. “One of our concerns is that limbs and entire trees that survived the punishment of Hurricane Sandy will be weakened to the point that they are not able to withstand the next storm. More falling limbs and trees could impact our system and cause additional outages."

The company expects all customers will have power restored by midnight Wednesday, November 7.

As damage assessment is completed, estimated restoration times are established for each outage; customers may find these at http://ebiz1.nyseg.com/cusweb/outagenotification.aspx or by calling our automated phone system at 1.800.572.1131. NYSEG is continuing to make proactive calls to customers to gather information to further refine estimated restoration times for each outage.