National Grid Restores Nearly 80 Percent of Customers Impacted by Severe Storm Crews Continue Labor-Intensive Restoration Efforts

National Weather Service Confirms Macroburst in Warren and Washington Counties

ALBANY, NY – An upstate New York field force of more than 1,300 workers continues to make progress restoring electricity to customers impacted by last night’s severe storm. While the storm affected many areas of upstate, the most severe damage was seen in eastern New York, where approximately 53,000 customers lost power. The National Weather Service has confirmed a macroburst, with straight line wind speeds of up to 90 mph, impacted Warren and Washington counties in eastern New York.

Power has been restored to nearly 80 percent of the approximately 68,000 upstate New York homes and businesses impacted by Thursday’s storms. A full contingent of line and tree workers remains focused on restoring power to approximately 14,000 customers without service, especially where the damage was most severe in and around the Glens Falls area. The field force continues to focus on the time-consuming, labor-intensive work of removing downed trees and thousands of tree limbs, replacing broken poles and damaged transformers, and replacing miles of feeder lines and circuits.

National Grid anticipates restoring power to the majority of customers in Albany, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties by late tonight, with some single outages restored by tomorrow afternoon. Most customers in Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties will have service restored by late tomorrow evening, however some single services and isolated pockets where damage is most severe may not be restored until Sunday. Specific local restoration times, updated every 15 minutes, are available on the Outage Central page of National Grid’s website.

“Our crews have made significant progress and we have received outstanding support from state, county and local first-responders and emergency coordinators,” said Melanie Littlejohn, National Grid’s New York vice president. “However there is challenging work ahead and our job is not done until we have connected every customer.”

Electric Safety

National Grid asks customers to stay alert for electricity service interruptions:

• Keep National Grid’s power outage reporting number– 1-800-867-5222 –on hand in case needed. In an outage, our customers should call this number immediately to expedite restoration.
• If you use a generator to supply power during an outage, be sure to only operate it outdoors. Regardless of ventilation,neveroperate a generator indoors. Before operating a generator, be sure to disconnect from National Grid’s system by shutting off the main breaker, located in the electric service panel. Failure to do this could endanger our crews and your neighbors.
• Never touch downed power lines; always assume they are carrying live electricity. If you see a downed line, report it immediately to National Grid at1-800-867-5222or your local emergency response organization.
• Keep a number of working flashlights, at least one battery-operated radio and an extra supply of batteries in your home. A radio is a good way to stay informed, as National Grid keeps news media up-to-date on service restoration efforts.
• In case an outage is prolonged, keep a supply of bottled drinking water handy, along with some canned food and a manual can opener.
• Our customers who depend on electrically powered life support equipment, such as a respirator should register as a life support customer by calling National Grid’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-642-4272. (In a medical emergency, always dial 911.)

National Grid also advises staying tuned to local media for important announcements from emergency officials about possible evacuations or other emergency procedures. In most areas, information on storm shelter locations is available by calling 211. Also, please check on elderly family members, neighbors and others who may need assistance in a service outage.

Stay Connected

National Grid offers several ways to stay informed and safe – before, during and after a storm:

• • For real-time power outage information, online outage reporting, and in-depth storm safety information, visit the Outage Central section of our website, www.nationalgridus.com.Customers who create an online profile on our website can also sign up for email alerts.
  • To receive text message alerts and updates from National Grid, text the word STORM to NGRID (64743).
  • Online and text alert services can be started and stopped at the customer’s request.
  • Other ways to stay in touch:

    • Visit our website: www.nationalgridus.com
    • Follow us on Twitter
    • Friend us on Facebook

Click here for a video on how National Grid restores power after a major storm.