STORM WATCH: ORANGE AND ROCKLAND UTILITIES RAMPING UP FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE AS TROPICAL STORM DEBBY APPROACHES
PEARL RIVER, NY, August 7, 2024, 2:00 p.m. – Orange & Rockland Utilities (O&R) is making final preparations to ramp up a company-wide, emergency response mobilization to make repairs and restore electric service as needed when the last of Tropical Storm Debby, packing strong wind gusts and heavy downpours, races through the region Friday through Saturday.
O&R has secured 150 additional mutual aid workers to supplement its storm response. They will join O&R’s full complement of company and contractor overhead line crews and tree removal experts who will be activated for storm duty Friday afternoon. O&R damage assessment, site safety, customer service operations and the wide array of O&R teams that support those functions also will be ready to respond.
Weather Forecast
Tropical Storm Debby is currently located 65 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. The system will make its way northwest and is expected to impact O&R’s service territory beginning Friday afternoon. The storm, coupled with saturated soil from thunderstorms and rain showers throughout the week, could pose significant overhead line impacts.
O&R Could See:
- Winds sustained up to 20 mph, gusting up to 40 mph.
- Rainfall 2-6 inches.
For the latest information about power outages, please view the Outage Map. For a brief video that provides a step-by-step guide to the Outage Map’s basic operation:
O&R Warns
For safety’s sake, O&R warns the public not to touch or approach any downed wire. Assume the wire is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free 1-877-434-4100. Depending on the situation, you may also consider calling your local police to divert traffic from the downed wire’s location until an O&R crew arrives.
How to Report an Outage
If you experience a power outage, don’t assume that O&R automatically knows about it. You can report it and check to see when your lights will be back on through:
- Report an Electric Service Problem | Orange & Rockland (oru.com) from any computer or web-based mobile device.
- O&R mobile app from your iPhone, iPad or Android device --- download via Apple Store or Google Play.
- Text messaging by texting “OUT” to 69678 (myORU) or
- Call 1-877-434-4100.
Restoring Service
Once the weather clears enough to safely assess damage and begin electric service restoration, O&R crews will give priority to clearing downed wires blocking roads and making repairs to critical and emergency facilities (police and fire stations, and hospitals, for example) and to those locations where the repair will provide power to the largest number of customers as quickly as possible. Then, crews will restore smaller outages and individual customers’ outages.
Important Safety Tips
- For safety’s sake, don’t touch or approach any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free 1-877-434-4100. Depending on the situation, you may also want to call your local police to divert traffic until an O&R 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 to 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.
How To Prepare Your EV for A Power Outage
Just as is the case with traditional gasoline vehicles, you need to ensure your electric car is fueled up in the event there is a power outage that lasts longer than expected.
Guidance is to always keep your EV charged between 75-90% in case of an emergency.
While EVs don’t need a gas station, they do need to be charged up, which is easily done at home.
All EVs come with a plug and adapter that are compatible with the outlets in your garage or outside your house. Furthermore, there are Level 2 chargers available for your home. These charge your vehicle at a higher rate than a regular outlet because they use 220 volts, just like what a clothes dryer uses.
Can’t charge at home? Take your vehicle to a publicly accessible Level 2 or DCFC Fast Charger.
About O&R
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. O&R is a regulated utility that provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange and Rockland Utilities) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company), and natural gas service to approximately 140,000 customers in New York.
O&R’s Customers
O&R serves the following communities in New York: Airmont, Bloomingburg, Blooming Grove, Chester Town, Chester Village, Chestnut Ridge, Clarkstown, Crawford, Deerpark, Florida, Forestburgh, Goshen Town, Goshen Village, Grand View, Greenwood Lake, Greenville, Harriman, Haverstraw Town, Haverstraw Village, Highland Falls, Highlands, Hillburn, Kaser, Kiryas Joel, Lumberland, Mamakating, Middletown, Minisink, Monroe Town, Monroe Village, Montebello, Mount Hope, New Hempstead, New Square, Nyack, Orangetown, Otisville, Palm Tree, Piermont, Pomona, Port Jervis, Ramapo, Sloatsburg, South Blooming Grove, South Nyack, Spring Valley, Stony Point, Suffern, Tuxedo Town, Tuxedo Park, Unionville, Upper Nyack, Wesley Hills, Wallkill, Warwick Town, Warwick Village, Washingtonville, Wawayanda, West Haverstraw, Woodbury, Woodbury Village, Wurtsboro.
O&R, as Rockland Electric Company, serves the following communities in New Jersey:
Allendale, Alpine, Closter, Cresskill, Demarest, Franklin Lakes, Harrington Park, Mahwah, Haworth (part), Montague, Montvale, Northvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan (part), Ramsey, Ringwood (part), Rivervale (part), Rockleigh, Saddle River (part), Upper Saddle River, Wantage (part), Vernon (part), West Milford (part), Wyckoff (part).
