Late Wednesday morning, the Rockland County Fire & Emergency Services staff and representatives of towns and villages participated in a webinar with the National Weather Service that did not bring good news for Rockland residents still recovering from Hurricane Sandy. According to the NWS, the Winter Weather Advisory, Wind Advisory and Hazardous Weather Outlook issued for the county forecasts three to six inches of snow with periods of heavy snow and winds from 40 mph with peak gusts of 60 mph.
The prediction was for the inclement weather, which is already in the county to be at its height at 7p.m. tonight and end about 4 a.m. on Thursday. The Winter Weather Advisory ends at 6 a.m. Thursday.
Meanwhile, O&R and other utility continue to work on restoring power. The total number of outages in Rockland as of late Wednesday morning was 6,800 customers.
In Clarkstown there were still 1,851 customers without power. The largest number – 1,315 - was in New City, followed by 467 in Valley Cottage and 69 in West Nyack.
In Orangetown, the total number of outages was 1,034. Pearl River had the most out 650, followed by Tappan 146 and Sparkill 132. Nyack still had 58 outages, Blauvelt had 36, South Nyack had six, Orangeburg and Palisades had two each, Piermont and Upper Grand View had one each.
Clarkstown reported 10 roads remained fully closed and 11 were partially closed as of noon today. The 10 roads that have fully closed sections have downed wires except for Cherry Hill, which has a damaged utility pole and transformer.
- West Nyack- Cherry Hill at Route 59
- Congers – Dr. Davies at Austin Douglas Way and two locations on New York Avenue
- Valley Cottage – Tow locations on Ridge Road
- New City – Evergreen Lane, Johnson’s Lane, Joyce Drive and Shady Brook Lane
The 11 partially closed roads have wires that need repair.
- New City – Alan Court, Carolina Drive, Jennifer Drive, and Lynne Drive
- West Nyack – Heather Lane
- Valley Cottage – Helene
- Congers – Lakewood Drive, Massachusetts Ave, New York Ave, and South Harrison Ave
- Second Ave was also listed but no hamlet was named.
Clarkstown needs to investigate how this town is wired by O&R. Why do the traffic lights and such a huge part of New City go down If only one transformer blows out. We just did major "beautification" on Main and while the roads were unearthed, did anyone think of emergency power contingency planning? At any rate, electric was restored after about 45 minutes for which I thank our first responders, fire, police, etc... still those 45 minutes made me very anxious after being in the dark for the initial six-plus days. Let's pray for an uneventful winter and an early Spring!!!
Clarkstown needs to investigate how this town is wired by O&R. Why do the traffic lights and such a huge part of New City go down If only one transformer blows out. We just did major "beautification" on Main and while the roads were unearthed, did anyone think of emergency power contingency planning? At any rate, electric was restored after about 45 minutes for which I thank our first responders, fire, police, etc... still those 45 minutes made me very anxious after being in the dark for the initial six-plus days. Let's pray for an uneventful winter and an early Spring!!!
didnt they bury the overhead wires
Overhead wires are not only dangerous, but they are an eyesore! The maintenance of trees, the poles and the cost of damage/clean-up after trees have fallen on these wires. Don't forget the cost for the average homeowner! Hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of food that goes bad. The loss of work is certainly in the thousands. Never mind the inconvenience. I say lets bury the wires and make O&R foot the bill!
Ultimately you get what you pay for and we have an antiquated electrical system and modernizing it would costs millions and result in substantial rate increases.
My mother in law is "REGISTERED" with O&R that she needs life support accommodations. I was without power for seven days and had to put her up in a hotel. I lost two refrigerators and a freezer full of food. My children were home all week because their school did not have electricity. My neighbors tree fell on my lines. I paid a landscaper to have the limb removed and have an electrician splice the wires back together. The O&R Call Center told me that if I could get an electrician or had one in the family it would be beneficial for them to take a look and report back. I hired an electrician to come out to get electricity back to my home. He told me "I can't touch the pole because it belongs to O&R" I had to foot that bill! I am tired of O&R not being prepared for these storms. If they cannot maintain "THEIR" lines above ground, then they should foot the bill to put "THEIR" lines underground.
Certainly O&R could have done more to be prepared, but unless we are willing, as customers, to accept a considerable rate hike putting the wires underground is impractical. If you do not like O&R you are not obligated to using them, there are other ways of generating electricity, but what they are offering is electricity on an antiquated grid which is subject to outages. take it or leave it.
As with most regulation it is necessary because corporation will not regulate themselves. An example being insurance companies rejection of those with pre-existing medical conditions. The fact is 50,000 Americans die each year because of lack of or improper health insurance, so .yes regulation is needed.
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/dying-from-lack-of-insurance/
What puzzles me most is the traffic signal issue. Clarkstown spent a small fortune manning almost every traffic light along Route 304 with law enforcement. Could traffic signals be run separate from other lines or have power backups much like my computer has an uninterruptable power supply. With all the FEMA and Homeland Security funds out there, this to me seems like a worthwhile and justifiable expense. If cost is the only rational, then I dare say we might be living in a linear time reversal and we shall soon be reading by kerosene lamps and traveling by horse and buggy. Good things, safe things are initially costly (seat belts for instance) but prove cost effective in the long run. Seatbelts added only a few dollars to the automobile manufactures cost, but saved considerable amounts of money spent on medical expenses, as well as lives. Most scientists would agree that these weather conditions are here to stay and will only get worse and we must be prepared. We need to address the safety of our community for future disasters. God Bless our safe homes, community and country.