For Immediate Release: October 31, 2012
LIPA AND NATIONAL GRID CREWS CONTINUE RESTORATION WORK IN SANDY’S WAKE - UPDATED 5:10PM
Focus Remains on Restoring Critical Facilities; Continued Efforts Underway to Secure Additional Outside Crews
1,100 Crews Currently Working Throughout Long Island
Halloween Outage Safety
UNIONDALE, NY – LIPA and
National Grid have restored power to more than 110,000
customers since Monday and 200,000 since Sunday on Long
Island who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy, a
devastating super storm that made landfall along the
Northeast on October 29. The storm affected nearly 1
million customers.
LIPA is focused on intense restoration efforts
across Long Island, beginning with restoring critical
facilities such as hospitals and emergency services,
while also continuing efforts to secure assistance from
additional outside crews.
“The enormity of this storm has strained the
resources of all utilities in its path,” said Michael
Hervey, LIPA Chief Operating Officer. “As a result,
there are significant limitations to the number of
additional restoration crews available to assist us in
getting the power back on. However, as we continue our
outreach over the next few days, we will know more about
our access to those resources. In the meantime, I’m
tremendously proud of the crews who are already here
working around the clock in order to get the job done as
safely and quickly as possible.”
LIPA has been responding to more than 1 million
power outages on Long Island as a result of the
unprecedented storm. More than 1,200 crews from National
Grid, other utilities and qualified contractors from as
far as California and Texas are currently assisting with
restoration efforts, supported by more than 4,500 people
behind the scenes from virtually every company
department assisting with activities such as call
handling, logistics and damage assessment.
Restoration Highlights
- Restored power to 16 of
21 hospitals
- Restored power to 22
Substations of 50 that were out of power
- 1,200 High Voltage and
Tree Trim Crews working on the system
- An additional 1,969
utility personnel are on way to Long Island to
assist in the restoration effort. This number will
increase as additional crews become available.
Restoration crews are currently working in
hazardous conditions, with some communities still
inaccessible due to blocked roadways and flood waters.
LIPA is working as hard as possible to restore power
while ensuring the safety of its workforce.
LIPA encourages customers to focus on safety
during Halloween since there will be trick-or-treaters
out during the day and night. While driving pay extra
attention since many areas do not have street lights.
Make sure children stay clear of storm debris. A fallen
tree could be concealing live electric wires.
Under the company’s priority system, repair
crews first address problems with transmission lines,
substations and critical facilities such as hospitals,
fire departments and law enforcement agencies. After
those problems are resolved, primary and secondary
circuits that serve local neighborhoods will be
repaired.
Customers can stay tuned to local media for
updated storm information or visit LIPA’s Storm Central
at www.lipower.org.
Safety is the primary concern in a major storm, and LIPA
and National Grid are urging customers to use extreme
caution in the storm damage areas. LIPA and National
Grid offer the following tips for customers to minimize
inconvenience and maximize safety in the event that
storm-related power interruptions do occur.
- New York area telephone
networks are experiencing heavy volume and
congestion as a result of the storm. If customers
have trouble reaching the customer call center to
report an outage on 1-800-490-0075 or 1-631-755-6900 they should try again. Customers
may also use our other communications options to
report an outage such as texting “OUT” to 695472
(MyLIPA) or online at
www.lipower.org
including on mobile devices.
- Never touch downed power
lines, and always assume that any fallen lines are
live electric wires. To report downed power lines
call 1-800-490-0075.
- If you use a generator
to supply power during an outage, be sure to only
operate it outdoors. Before operating generators, be
sure to disconnect from the electric system by
shutting off the main breaker located in the
electric service panel. Failure to do this could
jeopardize the safety of crews working to restore
power.
- If you lose power, turn
off any appliances that were on when the power went
off, but leave one light on so you will know when
power is restored.
Power problems can sometimes interrupt public
water supply systems or disable well pumps, so it’s an
especially good idea to keep a supply of bottled
drinking water handy, as well as some canned food.
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