The National Weather Service is predicting 5-10 inches of snow for Rockland County and much of the lower Hudson Valley with snowfall rates up to an inch an hour possible. They have also warned of a potential for strong winds with gusts from 25-35 mph.
The County Highway Department is well prepared for this storm. Crews have pre-treated County roads with a brine solution and all of our plow trucks are loaded with salt so they can hit the road as soon as snow starts falling.
Despite our preparations we are asking residents to please stay off the roads if possible and to travel with extreme caution if you must travel. Give any plows you see on the road the space they need to do their jobs safely.
With the high winds forecast we may experience power outages and downed wires. Please review the following safety tips from Orange and Rockland Utilities:
- Maintain a distance of at least 50 feet from downed wires and anything they are in contact with including puddles of water and fences. Supervise your children so that they are not in the vicinity and keep pets on a leash or otherwise secure.
- If a fallen wire is draped over a car, do not approach the car and make rescue attempts. Remain a safe distance away and try to keep the occupant of the vehicle calm. If possible, emergency personnel should handle the situation.
- Pole-top transformers – those small, grey-colored metal drums attached to the wires at the tops of most utility poles – also should be avoided when they have been knocked to the ground.
- Portable generators pose a serious hazard if used improperly. They should be used and installed according to the manufacturer’s instructions. A wrong connection could feed electricity back through the lines and endanger our repair crews. Never plug a generator into a wall unit, use it indoors or set it up outdoors near open home windows or air-handling vents.
- Have emergency equipment within reach — portable radio, flashlights, spare batteries, first aid kit, cell phone and important medications.
- Remember: if the base station of your cordless phone plugs into the wall, your phone will be unusable during a power outage.
If you experience a power outage do not assume that Orange and Rockland automatically knows about it. Please report it and check for your restoration time using any of these options:
- At www.oru.com/ReportOutage from any computer or web-based mobile device
- O&R mobile app from your iPhone, iPad, or Android device — download via Apple Store or Google Play
- Text messaging by texting “OUT” to 69678 (myORU) or
- Call 1-877-434-4100
