Con Edison Crews Restoring Customers Impacted by Storm’s High Winds and Heavy Rain

Con Edison has restored electric service to nearly 42,000 customers who lost power in the wind and rainstorm that hit the area Wednesday into today and is working to restore approximately 3,350 customers who remain out of service.

The company issued estimated times of restoration:

Bronx – 95 percent by midnight tonight.

Westchester – 95 percent by 7 a.m. Friday.

The company urges members of the public to stay away from downed wires. They may be live. For your safety, we may guard downed wires until crews make repairs. Our personnel may be in unmarked cars but will always have Con Edison identification.

Crews restored power to more than 23,000 of the approximately 26,000 Westchester customers who were affected, leaving fewer than 2,900 still to be restored. In the Bronx, crews have restored more than 14,000 customers out of the approximately 14,640 who were affected, leaving fewer than 500 still without power.

The coastal storm’s strong easterly winds, with gusts reaching 60 miles per hour, and heavy thunderstorms, drenching some areas with more than 3 inches of rain, knocked trees and branches onto overhead electric delivery equipment, causing outages.

Con Edison crews, supplemented by more than 300 outside workers, will continue to work around the clock removing fallen trees and making repairs to get customers back in service.

All Staten Island customers have been restored. The storm did not cause large numbers of outages in Brooklyn or Queens. Crews continue working to restore 18 customers in Brooklyn and 34 customers in Queens.

The electric delivery system in Manhattan is underground, so customers there are not affected by tree damage caused by overhead storms.

Restoring service

The priority for restoration is critical customer facilities that have an impact on the public, such as mass transit, hospitals, police and fire stations, and sewage and water-pumping stations. Crews will then prioritize repairs that will provide power to the largest numbers of customers as quickly as possible, then move on to restore smaller groups and individual customers.

Reporting an outage

Customers can sign up for text alerts at coned.com/text. Customers can also report outages and check service 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.

Safety Tips

• Do not go near downed electrical wires. Treat downed wires as if they are live. Never attempt to move them or touch them with any object. Be mindful that downed wires can be hidden from view by tree limbs, leaves or water.
• Report 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.
• Members of the public should also avoid transformers that are brought to the ground. The transformers are gray metal drums attached to the wires and poles. 
• 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.
• Charge your cellphones and other mobile devices while you have power.
• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for installing and using a portable generator. Never plug a generator into a wall unit, use it indoors or set it up outdoors near open home windows or air-handling vents.
• Make sure your flashlights and any battery-operated radios are working. Have a supply of extra batteries. Weather updates and news on electrical service can be heard on local radio and television stations.
• For more storm tips and preparation, go to www.conEd.com

The company is in contact with New York City Emergency Management and the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services to coordinate storm-response if needed.

Photo on first page: A Con Edison crew working to restore power to customers on a street in Chappaqua, Westchester County.