Electric
service has been restored to 94,000, or more than 90 percent, of
Central Hudson customers by Friday morning, exceeding the utility’s goal
to restore 90 percent by 11 p.m. by nearly a day. “We’re very proud of
the work our employees, mutual aid crews and contractors have done to
quickly and safely restore electric service to the vast majority of our
customers impacted by this devastating storm,” said James P. Laurito,
President of Central Hudson. “We know, however, that we still have much
work to do, and will continue to focus on bringing back power to the
rest of our customers.”
Crews
continue to methodically restore electric service in the wake of
Tropical Storm Sandy, and as of 7 a.m. Friday, approximately 9,100 power
outages remain, with 290 in Putnam County; 400 in Dutchess County; 680
in Sullivan County; 2,100 in Orange County; and 5,700 in Ulster County.
“Crews
are still addressing areas that have sustained considerable damage by
this powerful storm,” said Laurito. Since the start of the storm, the
utility identified more than 170 broken poles and 1,100 instances of
downed wires, much of which has been repaired.
“With
most of the large outage cases addressed, we’ve reached the point where
each repair will restore power to fewer and fewer customers,” said
Laurito. “Many of the remaining damage locations are off-road and are
often difficult to access. At this stage, service restoration is both
time and labor-intensive, as crews may spend hours repairing lines to
restore service to just a few customers. With many cases of fallen trees
and broken poles remaining, there is still much work to do,” he said.
“We
estimate there are more than 500 distinct damage locations that must be
repaired by our field forces, and we’ll keep working around the clock
until service is restored to everyone. We expect the majority of
remaining repairs will be completed by Saturday night, and that some
work will continue on Sunday.”
Customers
should call Central Hudson’s PowerLine at (845) 452-2700 or
1-800-527-2714 to report their power condition, and they are encouraged
to use the automated reporting system.
Central Hudson will continue to
distribute dry ice and bottled water at the following locations on
Friday, Nov. 2. These locations are also listed at www.CentralHudson.com/HurricaneSandy; and customers without Internet access can call (845) 486-5796 to hear a recording that lists these locations:
Newburgh Home Depot (Orange County)
1220 Route 300
Newburgh NY 12550
Noon - 4 p.m.
Accord Fire Department (Ulster County)
22 Main Street
Accord, NY 12404
Noon – 4 p.m.
Woodstock Community Center (Ulster County)
56 Rock City Road, Woodstock, NY 12498
Noon - 4 p.m.
Staffed by local municipal officials/volunteers
Ellenville/Wawarsing (Ulster County)
Wawarsing Transfer Station
209 Landfill Rd., Wawarsing, NY 12489
8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Staffed by local municipal officials/volunteers
