Thousands without power in wind storm

Strong, gusty winds left thousands without power in the Twin Counties on Monday and new outages were expected later in the day.

At one point Monday afternoon, nearly 3,000 customers were without power in Columbia and Greene counties.

In Philmont, Route 217 was closed from approximately 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. due to a downed tree, Philmont Fire Chief Mark Beaumont said.

“It was not on a house,” Beaumont confirmed. “It pulled the service wire from a house.”

There was minimal damage to the property, Beaumont said, but some siding was pulled off the home.

“The wire was live,” Beaumont said. “The firefighters had to wait for the power company.”

Power was on at Columbia Memorial Health in Hudson, but the facility is prepared for a number of emergencies, spokesman Bill Van Slyke said.

“We have a number of protocols in place in anticipation of any scenario,” he said.

For power outages, CMH is equipped with back-up generators at the hospital in Hudson and the Greene Medical Arts building in Catskill, Van Slyke said.

“We have several back-up generators to power our campuses for prolonged periods,” he said. “We’re ready for anything that may come.”

Local nursing homes were also at the ready in the event of a power outage, though none were impacted by the high winds at press time Monday.

Greene Meadows Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Catskill has a plan in place should the weather pose a threat, Administrator John Edwards said.

The emergency disaster plan, which was approved by the emergency management team of Columbia and Greene counties, involves keeping patients away from windows, pulling blinds and bringing potential projectile-type objects inside, Edwards said.

At Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Barnwell, in Valatie, there is a generator and other plans in place, Assistant Administrator Joshua Held said.

“The nursing home works with the county disaster agency,” Held said. “We have plans in place for loss of power and high winds.”

The plans are required by the state Department of Health, he said.

“We have a back-up generator that will last up to 48 hours,” Held said, adding that the generator is tested regularly.

Barnwell has agreements with neighboring fuel companies to receive diesel and go past the 48 hours if needed, Held said.

“We also have an emergency supply of linen, and a three-day supply of non-perishable food,” he noted.

At press time late Monday afternoon, there were 994 Central Hudson customers in Greene County without power. Late Tuesday afternoon there were 418 customers in the town of Catskill without power, primarily in Leeds, 324 in Cairo, 95 in Greenville, 88 in the village of Coxsackie, 24 each in Lexington and the town of Athens, 17 in the village of Catskill and four in the town of Coxsackie.

One Central Hudson customer in Ancram in Columbia County was experiencing an outage.

“The outages are caused by strong winds and wind gusts that have impacted our area,” said Central Hudson spokesman John Maserjian. “This is part of a larger wind event that is affecting most of the tri-state area.”

Most outages have been caused by trees and branches falling onto power lines.

“We received reports of falling trees and limbs falling onto power lines, which is causing the majority of the outages,” Maserjian said. “We have crews throughout the region, along with contracted crews we are also working with.”

Power was expected to be restored within hours to homes experiencing an outage, but with high winds continuing throughout the day and into the evening, more outages were expected, Maserjian said.

“Generally speaking, outages are being restored within a couple of hours of being reported, but these high winds are expected to continue throughout the day. As repairs are made, we receive new reports of outages, so we anticipate this will be the case throughout the day,” Maserjian said.

To get an updated restoration time, affected customers can visit the company’s website at cenhud.com.

“As our crews determine when restoration will take place, we will post that information on our site, but this is a continuous process,” he added. “As we restore power, new cases are being reported. We will continue to address outages throughout the day, and we expect to be working on it tonight as well.”

In Columbia County, at press time, 188 New York State Electric and Gas customers were impacted by the storm.

New Lebanon had the highest number of outages with 110, Canaan had 46, Chatham had 21, Hillsdale had eight, and Austerlitz, Copake and Ghent had one apiece. At one point earlier in the day, 1,124 outages in Copake and 977 in Hillsdale were reported.

NYSEG responded to thousands of power outages across upstate and western New York due to extreme high winds, and has more than 2,500 line, tree and service and support personnel working to restore service statewide, according to the company’s website.

“The immediate focus is on making downed equipment safe, ensuring access to critical facilities such as fire, police and hospitals, and assessment of the damage,” according to a statement released by NYSEG. “Infrastructure repair and restoration of service will occur as it is safe to do so.”

There were 138 National Grid customers without power as of late Monday afternoon in Columbia County, including 104 in Taghkanic, 33 in Stockport, and one in Greenport, according to the company’s website.

“Our crews will continue to work around the clock to restore power as quickly and safely as possible in challenging conditions. We remind customers to never touch downed power lines and always assume they are carrying live electricity,” according to a statement on National Grid’s website.

If you find a downed power line, call local authorities or the power company immediately.