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O&R Continues to Restore Power to Customers' Storm Outages

  • Orange and Rockland Media Relations

  • Pearl River – August 07, 2020 -- 01:30 PM

Individual Restoration Times Are Available Via O&R’s Outage Map 


Sixty-seven hours after Tropical Storm Isaias struck, O&R crews have restored electricity to more than 183,000 of the 220,000 customers who lost power as a result of the destructive storm.

The company has announced that individual service restoration times are now posted on O&R’s outage map for each of the remaining approximately 37,000 customers out of service.

That more granular information will allow affected customers to better plan their daily lives as they await service restoration.

O&R overhead line crews, contractors, tree removal experts and mutual aid crews will continue to work around the clock until the remaining customers are returned to service.

If you experience a power outage, don’t assume that O&R automatically knows about it. You can report it and check to see when your lights will be back on through:
  • At www.oru.com/outage 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.
The following video describes the typical storm repair and power restoration process:

Be Safe

As its storm recovery work continues, O&R reminds its customers about the safety risks associated with using generators to provide emergency power to homes. 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 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.

O&R also renews its warning about staying clear of downed electric wires. Don’t go near any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free at 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.

O&R follows an established restoration process to help restore power safely. Today, O&R is working on a number of important fronts to continue addressing public safety issues, clearing critical roads and restoring locations that provide critical services such as hospitals, nursing homes and police and fire stations.

Today’s work includes:

  • Dispatching electric repair crews throughout the service area to restore power to the lines and equipment that will bring power back to the most customers in the fewest hours possible.

    This morning O&R crews were dispatched to repair damage and restore service in Clarkstown, Upper Nyack, Nyack, New Hempstead, Ramapo, Upper Saddle River, Congers, Mahwah, Wyckoff, Allendale, Sparkill, Closter, Northvale, Franklin Lakes, Oakland, Montebello and Stony Point.

    More crews also were deployed for repair/restore work in West Milford, Ringwood, Tuxedo, Highland Falls, Monroe, Greenwood Lake, Warwick and Vernon. Damage in Crawford, Greenville, Pine Island, Unionville, Westbrookville, Mamakating, Forestburg and Lumberland also are the focus O&R’s storm recovery work today.
  • Deploying dozens of tree removal crews to clear downed trees from damage locations to open roadways and prepare the area for electric service repair.
  • Repairing two transmission lines in West Haverstraw, Pomona, Mongaup, Franklin Lakes and, Pearl River. The additional transmission lines that were knocked out of service have been repaired and are back online. • Restoring power to essential service locations, including Allendale Nursing Home and 30 schools.
  • Aiding road opening work on 100 storm-closed roads. Here are the customer outage numbers as of 11:00 a.m. today:

    NEW YORK
    Rockland: 12,889
    Orange: 5,547
    Sullivan: 888

    NEW JERSEY
    Bergen: 14,407
    Passaic: 4,196
    Sussex: 21

Important Safety Tips

  • Don’t go near any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free at 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.
  • 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. Keep O&R’s toll-free number 1-877-434-4100 near the phone to report power outages.
  • Remember: if the base station of your cordless phone plugs into the wall, your phone will be unusable during a power outage.

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 to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. O&R asks members of the public to maintain appropriate social distancing when they encounter O&R employees working in the field, to provide for mutual safety.

 

About Orange & Rockland

Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R), a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, is a regulated utility. O&R provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange & Rockland) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company) and natural gas service to approximately 130,000 customers in New York. 

 

O&R serves the following communities in New York: Airmont, Bloomingburg, Blooming Grove, Chester Town, Chester Village, Chestnut Ridge, Clarkstown, Crawford, Deerpark, Florida, Forestburgh, Goshen Town, Goshen Village, Grand View, Greenwood Lake, Greenville, Harriman, Haverstraw Town, Haverstraw Village, Highland Falls, Highlands, Hillburn, Kaser, Kiryas Joel, Lumberland, Mamakating, Middletown, Minisink, Monroe Town, Monroe Village, Montebello, Mount Hope, New Hempstead, New Square, Nyack, Orangetown, Otisville, Palm Tree, Piermont, Pomona, Port Jervis, Ramapo, Sloatsburg, South Blooming Grove, South Nyack, Spring Valley, Stony Point, Suffern, Tuxedo Town, Tuxedo Park, Unionville, Upper Nyack, Wesley Hills, Wallkill, Warwick Town, Warwick Village, Washingtonville, Wawayanda, West Haverstraw, Woodbury, Woodbury Village, Wurtsboro. 

 

O&R, as Rockland Electric Company, serves the following communities in New Jersey:

Allendale, Alpine, Closter, Cresskill, Demarest, Franklin Lakes, Harrington Park, Mahwah, Haworth (part), Montague, Montvale, Northvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan (part), Ramsey, Ringwood, Rivervale (part), Rockleigh, Saddle River (part), Upper Saddle River, Wantage (part), Vernon (part), West Milford (part), Wyckoff (part).