Heat wave returns before electricity for thousands across New York City region
Tristate power problems persist
Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked the state's Public Service Commission to look into how utilities responded to the damage and power outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias. Thousands of customers in Westchester County and Long Island remained in the dark a week after the storm. Reported by Linda Schmidt
NEW YORK - Another anticipated heat wave is gripping the New York region while thousands of residents and businesses waited for electricity to return after last week’s tropical storm.
The race to restore fuel for desperately needed air conditioners, refrigerators, and electronic devices as another work week arrived under sunny skies. Thousands of power company workers continued to restore energy as temperatures rose above 90 degrees on Monday. The power restoration was made more urgent by the pandemic that has turned homes into workplaces for many.
Utility companies said they were doing the best they can to repair the damage left behind by Tropical Storm Isaias, which temporarily wiped out power to over 2.5 million customers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Tens of thousands of residents and businesses remained without power on Monday although utilities said crews had restored power to most who were left in the dark.
PSEG on Long Island reported steady progress over the weekend but said nearly 40,000 customers were still without power on Monday night.
"We are tracking new outages reported after the storm, recognizing that some of these jobs tie back to Tuesday's storm," PSEG Long Island said. "The restoration process is iterative and as we restore neighborhoods, we continue to identify a high level of individual problems within neighborhoods and individual service lines to homes."
Con Edison said about 10,000 customers remained without power in Westchester County on Monday night.
"Our crews are working night and day to restore power as quickly and safely as possible in the aftermath of the deadly storm," Con Ed said.
Westchester power problems persist
Con Edison said it has an army of crews working 24/7 to get every last customer back up and that residents can submit vouchers for food that went bad. But the county executive suggested that Con Ed was understaffed when the storm hit and asked for mutual aid when it was too late. Reported by Arthur Chi'en
Utilities in New Jersey reported about 6,600 homes and businesses remained without power, down from more than 1 million, on Monday night. Most of the outages were in Morris, Essex, Salem and Bergen counties.
JCP&L reported crews have replaced more than 140,000 feet of wire, hundreds of poles and worked through more than 400 closed roads, the AP reported. The utility was projecting to have the power back by 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.