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Storm Watch: O&R Preps to Repair Damage as Heavy Rain, High Winds Threaten Region

  • O&R Media Relations

  • Pearl River – December 20, 2022 -- 04:00 PM

Orange & Rockland is preparing to mobilize its emergency response workforce to repair possible storm damage and restore resulting electric service outages from a major storm system that could soak the region with as much as 2.5 inches of rain and pummel the area with winds gusting 40 mph to 55 mph from Thursday night through Friday.

O&R company and contractor overhead line crews and tree removal experts, customer service operations and the other O&R emergency response teams will be activated and deployed Thursday evening. O&R also will double the size of the company’s field workforce for this event by obtaining overhead line mutual aid workers.

O&R Warns

For safety’s sake, O&R warns the public not to touch or approach 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 consider calling your local police to divert traffic from the downed wire’s location until an O&R crew arrives.

Weather Forecast

  • Strong gusty winds are becoming likely midnight Friday through 8 p.m. across the region, with the highest gusts closer to the coast.
  • Showers are expected to move into the area Thursday night, falling moderately to heavily at times from about midnight Friday until around 6 a.m. and again later Friday from 11 a.m. through 5 p.m.
  • Embedded thunderstorms are becoming likely along the cold front from 11 a.m. through 5 p.m. Friday with a low chance for isolated severe thunderstorms during this timeframe. By definition, severe thunderstorms contain wind gusts greater than 57 mph, hail larger than 1 inch or tornadoes
  • Rain is expected to taper off from west to east after 5 p.m. Friday as the cold front exits the area.
  • Temperatures will quickly fall from the upper 50s to the upper teens and 20s behind the cold front Friday evening.
  • Lingering winds gusting 35 mph through 45 mph will continue in the wake of this front as cold air pours in.
  • The coldest airmass of the season so far is expected Saturday, Sunday and Monday with highs struggling to get out of the 20s.

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 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.

For the latest information about power outages, please view O&R’s Outage Map.

For a brief video that provides a step-by-step guide to the Outage Map’s basic operation:

Restoring Service

Once the weather clears enough to safely assess damage and begin electric service restoration, O&R crews will give priority to clearing downed wires blocking roads and making repairs to critical and emergency facilities (police and fire stations, and hospitals, for example) and to those locations where the repair will provide power to the largest number of customers as quickly as possible. Then, crews will restore smaller outages and individual customers’ outages.

Important Safety Tips

  • For safety’s sake, don’t touch or approach 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.
  • 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.

About O&R

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’s Customers

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).