KESSEL CITES RESTORATION EFFORTS IN WAKE OF SEVERE WEATHER
Old Bethpage, NY–July 18, 2007—The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA)
today announced that it is in full restoration mode following a severe storm
that struck Long Island earlier today and caused approximately 51,000 power
outages – particularly in eastern Nassau County and western Suffolk County. LIPA CEO & President, Richard M. Kessel, said that close to 500 LIPA and KeySpan
personnel will work 16 hour shifts to restore power to electric customers.
Currently, LIPA has restored approximately 30,400 customers with 20,000 still
being affected. LIPA crews are currently working on 17,000 of the 20,000
customer outages and hopes to restore most or all of the current outages later
today or tonight. Particularly hard hit areas include Central Islip, Huntington,
Melville and Brookhaven. “The line of storms that struck Long Island earlier today created massive
flooding and numerous power outages,” said CEO Kessel. “LIPA crews will work
around the clock to get the power back for all of our customers as quickly as
possible. I am asking our customers to be patient as the working conditions are
extremely dangerous and we want our crews to operate safely as well as
efficiently.” Kessel also said that the massive amount of rain in a short period of time
created flooding problems in LIPA’s Central Control Room. While the Control Room
continues to operate normally, LIPA has manned its Alternative Control Center,
along with key substations, in the event LIPA’s system cannot be run through the
Hicksville Operations Center.
Kessel added that Long Island could see additional outages later today or
tomorrow from this weather system. Kessel said that LIPA would continue to update the media throughout the day but
hoped to have most customers back by tonight. |
