Damaging Storm Knocks Out Power to Half of O&R Customers

News

PEARL RIVER, NY, Aug. 4, 2020 10:00 p.m. — Tropical Storm Isaias’s powerful winds knocked out power to more than half of O&R’s 300,000 electric customers. Throughout the night, O&R is assessing damage, addressing public safety issues, clearing critical roads and restoring critical infrastructure. Full restoration will begin once these tasks are completed.

O&R estimates that today’s storm damage will rank second only to Superstorm Sandy — at 250,000 customers affected — in O&R history.

Damage assessment, site safety, customer service operations and the wide array of O&R teams that support those functions will be working around the clock until power is restored to all of its customers. Those workers will be joined by over 150 additional contractor overhead line technicians O&R hired today to supplement its storm response. O&R is seeking another 750 overhead line technicians from its mutual aid and contractor partners.

The following video describes the typical storm repair and power restoration process:

Don’t go near any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free 1-877-434-4100. Depending on the situation, you may also want to call your local police to divert traffic until an O&R crew arrives.

As an added safety precaution, O&R personnel have been instructed to practice social distancing with each other and members of the public when responding to emergency calls in an attempt to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. O&R asks members of the public as well to maintain appropriate social distancing when they encounter O&R employees working in the field, to provide for mutual safety.

author avatar
Joan Will

Related Posts

No results found.
Skip to content