16K Without Power Sunday AM In The Hudson Valley

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Early damage from overnight thunderstorms in parts of the Hudson Valley left 16,000 customers without power on Sunday morning as the region entered a 24-hour flood watch.

• Severe Flash Flooding Possible Sunday: 4 to 6 Inches Of Rain In the HV

As of 8:20 a.m.:

• NYSEG reported 8,003 customers without power in Dutchess County and 60 out in Ulster.
• O&R outages: 6,331 in Orange, 27 in Rockland
• Cen Hud: 473 in Ulster, 441 in Dutchess, 356 in Orange
• Con Ed: 93 in Westchester

Important Safety Tips For Outages

For safety’s sake, don’t touch or approach any downed wire. Assume it is energized and
dangerous. Depending on the situation, you may also want to call your local police to divert traffic until a untility 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.

—O&R

SEE ALSO:

• Tornado Watch Issued For Putnam, Westchester, Long Island
• Flash Flood Warning Sunday AM For Northern Westchester, Eastern Putnam
• Orange County Under Extra Flood Advisory Till 8:45AM