Astorino Presses for Power at Schools, Voting Sites

Nearly 130,000 Westchester County NYSEG and Con Edison customers remain without power as of Saturday afternoon in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. While the numbers represent an improvement from Friday's, County Executive Robert P. Astorino pressed the companies for full power restoration with an immediate focus on schools and polling places. 

"Our biggest priorities are our schools. We want all schools open on Monday," Astorino said. "After that, our priority is our voting places, which in many cases are in schools. Let me assure our residents they will have a place to vote on Tuesday. We are getting generators for some places. And if a poll does not have power by Monday evening, we will have an alternative, nearby place to vote."

Should polling locations change, the county will use its paratransit fleet to transport paratransit riders.

Con Edison President Craig Ivey assured Astorino during a conversation earlier Saturday that none of the company's resources are being diverted to New York City. Astorino also spoke with NYSEG CEO Mark Lynch.

"Again, I am asking all our residents to be patient," Astorino said. "I know this is hard, particularly as the outages continue and the weather gets colder."

Nearly 1.5 million New Jersey customers remain without power and 750,000 on Long Island. 

According to Astorino, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office said gasoline deliveries are returning to normal and generators are being delivered to stations without power. Astorino asked that residents who do not need gasoline to refrain from topping off their tanks. 

Astorino emphasized that the county is working closely with local governments to oversee the recovery process through the Emergency Operations Center (EOC); the county EOC has daily calls with municipalities.

The Department of Public Safety activated its Sheriff's Emergency Force after requests for police support came in, said Astorino. And all county police officers have been placed on 12-hour shifts to maximize deployment. 

Power Outages Breakdown as of 3:30 p.m. Saturday: 

Estimated Number of Westchester County Customers Without Power: 
Con Edison: 108,469 (11,905 have regained power since Friday afternoon)
NYSEG: 21,200 (4,499 have regained power since Friday afternoon)

Estimated Number of Westchester County Polling Sites Without Power:
92 of 380 have no power as of 2 p.m. Saturday

Estimated Number of Westchester County Schools Without Power: 
107 of 142 schools in Con Edison territory remained without power. The company expects the number to drop to 55 by Saturday evening.