Winter storm winds looming, bringing evening power outage worries

Snow, rain and high winds are prompting the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to issue states of emergency. Several winter storm warnings are also in effect.

Con Edison is staging additional standby crews at Rue Playland, preparing for downed power lines and possible outages. The electric company brought in about 400 extra workers to help out from several states, including Alabama, Iowa, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

But they say the system is holding up, with only 20 power outages reported as of early Tuesday afternoon – though heavy winds later in the day could bring trees down onto power lines.

Winds were expected to reach up to 50 mph around 5 p.m. in the Newark area. 

Gusts well into the 30 mph range were expected throughout the rest of the area through the overnight hours and into Wednesday morning as well. 

RELATED: NYC storm: Over a foot of snow possible for parts of state

Overnight, a giant tree came down on multiple cars in the Bronx on Bainbridge Avenue, damaging the cars and the sidewalk as the tree’s roots ripped through. The area remains closed. 

ConEd is keeping a close eye on areas with overhead wires, like Westchester County and Staten Island.

"Also one of the important things is to remember is that if you see any downed power lines," said Alfonso Quiroz, a Con Ed Spokesman said, "it's important that you stay away from them. A lot of times they could be covered with snow or other kinds of tree debris, anything like that. But if you see any downed power lines you definitely want to stay away from them."

He recommends people go to the ConEd website and sign up for text alerts.