Overnight Storm, Winds Cut Power to 1,000 O&R Customers

Orange and Rockland Utilities this morning says the high winds and heavy downpours that roared through the region overnight have led to power outages affecting about 1,000 O&R customers.

The hardest hit area was Passaic County, N.J. with about 860 customers followed by Orange County with about 95 customers, Rockland with 45 customers and Bergen with one customer. In New City, there are about 10 O&R customers on Laurel Road and Congers Road just off Route 304 who are without power this morning.

O&R crews have been assigned to work through the morning to restore service. O&R estimates all service will be restored by noon.   

The overnight winds also led to a ban on buses, trucks, trailers and motorcycles on the Tappan Zee Bridge. The ban has been lifted this morning.

O&R offers customers these storm safety tips:

• For safety’s sake, don’t touch or approach any downed wires. Assume downed wires are energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately at 1-877-434-4100. Depending on the situation, you may also want to call your local police to divert traffic until the 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. 

• If a fallen wire is draped over a car, do not approach the car and make reckless 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. 

• If you experience a power outage, don’t assume that O&R automatically knows about it or that someone else will report it. To be sure the outage is reported, please call us at 1-877-434-4100 to let us know what happened. The more information you can provide us, the more we can help you.