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O&R's Restoring Power as Nor'easter Sweeps Through Region

  • Media Relations

  • Pearl River – October 26, 2021 -- 06:00 PM

Orange & Rockland’s (O&R) emergency response team continues to restore power outages and repair damage that resulted from thunderstorms that roared through the region last night, heavy rain and gusty winds that soaked the area this morning and increasingly strong gusty winds that are expected to blow through late this afternoon and into the night.

Approximately 3,600 customers have had their power knocked out at one time or another since the storm began last night. O&R and contractor overhead line and tree crews have restored electric service to about 3,400 customers. Approximately, 200 customers currently are out of service. Work continues to return those customers’ electric service. Crews are in the field and will address further outages as they occur.

For the most up-to-date outage information, please go to O&R’s Outage Map

As of 5:30 p.m., here’s a breakdown of the latest numbers: Rockland 48 customers, Orange 37 customers, Sullivan 114 customers and one customer in Bergen.

Weather Outlook

Today’s widespread periods of moderate to heavy rain are expected to diminish in intensity by late afternoon and become more scattered into the late evening. Gusty winds are likely to kick up about 4 p.m. today, lasting through about 11 a.m. Wednesday. Sustained winds are expected to be 10-25 m.p.h. with gusts of 35-45 m.p.h. The strongest wind gusts are expected to peak between midnight tonight and 7 a.m. Wednesday. A few stray showers are possible early Wednesday morning before clouds decrease and winds diminish into the afternoon. 

Be Safe

O&R urges its customers to stay 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. If the situation requires urgent action, call your local police at 911 to divert traffic until an O&R crew arrives.

How to report an outage

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 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.

Important Safety Tips

  • 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.

In addition, O&R and contractor personnel have been instructed to follow all safety protocols when responding to emergency calls to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. O&R asks members of the public to maintain appropriate social distance when they encounter O&R employees working in the field, to provide for mutual safety.

To further help its customers prepare to weather a storm, O&R offers these tips:

  • 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.

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.