Con Edison Off To A Fast Start on Post-Isaias Restoration

The restoration will continue around the clock until the remaining approximately 199,000 customers have their service back. The job will take multiple days, as Con Edison crews must get to thousands of sites, set up their work areas and replace poles, wires and transformers knocked down by winds that gusted up to 70 miles per hour.

It is a formidable task for the women and men of Con Edison who work under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. They have already spent the early part of the summer in the streets working through heat emergencies.

Restoration will require clearing nearly 500 roads that are blocked by fallen trees. Con Edison must de-energize any wires entangled in those trees, untangle the wires and then work with municipal public works crews to remove the trees.

More than 7,000 wires are down and each requires careful attention with the safety of the public and Con Edison workers being the priority.

Isaias’s destruction surpassed Hurricane Irene’s, which caused 204,000 customer outages in August 2011. The record for storm-related outages is 1.1 million caused by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.

Crews have restored power to more than 21,000 Westchester County customers and are working on the remaining 99,000 customers; In Queens, more than 10,000 customers have gotten service back with about 47,000 out; In Brooklyn, crews have restored more than 21,600 with about 9,500 remaining out; In Staten Island, the company has restored 30,500 customers with 21,300 still out.

In the Bronx, crews have restored 4,600 customers and 23,000 are out of service.

Con Edison currently has crews making repairs that will bring service back to 42,000 customers.

In Westchester, the hardest-hit communities include: Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, Cortlandt, Rye, and Greenburgh.

In Queens, the storm had a big on impact on communities that included Cambria Heights, Whitestone, Middle Village, Flushing and areas in the southeast portion of the borough. The Flatbush and Sheepshead Bay areas were among those in Brooklyn that took the brunt of the storm.

Outages are spread throughout areas of the Bronx where the electric distribution system is overhead with areas in the northeast and southeast sections of the borough, along with Riverdale, getting hit hard.

On Staten Island, Fox Hills area and surrounding neighborhoods have significant outages. 

Including tree trimmers and other workers, the company has 900 of its own employees and outside personnel working on the restoration.

Once the company has estimated times of restoration for customers, the company will share those times via its website and the media.

Crews give priority to making repairs that will provide power to the most customers quickly, then restore smaller groups and individual customers.

Con Edison sent text messages to customers in all its service areas except Manhattan, where the electric system is totally underground. The messages remind customers to be prepared and to report an outage by simply replying OUT to the text.

Customers can sign up for text alerts at conEd.com/text. Customers can report outages and check restoration status at conEd.com/reportoutage,or with Con Edison’s mobile app for iOS or Android devices, or by calling 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633).

Customers who report outages will receive updates from Con Edison with their estimated restoration times as they become available. Information on outages and restoration times is also available at the Con Edison outage map.

Con Edison personnel practice social distancing to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. Con Edison is following the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Con Edison offers the following storm tips:

• Do not go near downed wires. Treat downed wires as if they are live. Never touch them with your hands of any object. Be mindful that downed wires can be hidden from view by tree limbs, leaves or water.
• Report all downed wires to Con Edison and your local police department immediately. If a power line falls on your car while you’re in it, stay inside the vehicle and wait for emergency personnel.
• If your power goes out, disconnect or turn off appliances that would otherwise turn on automatically when service is restored. If several appliances start up at once, the electric circuits may overload.
• Make sure flashlights and any battery-operated radios or televisions are in working order. Make sure you have a supply of extra batteries. Weather updates and news on restorations of electrical service can be heard on most local radio and television stations.
• For more storm tips and preparation, go to www.conEd.com 

Customers can follow Con Edison on Twitter or like us on Facebook for general outage updates, safety tips and storm preparation information. In addition, the company is in close contact with New York City Emergency Management and the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services to coordinate storm response if needed.