News: Power Outages on Long Island
(Long Island, N.Y.) As of Wednesday morning an estimated 330,000 customers of Long Island Power Authority had their power restored since last week’s tropical storm Irene. The storm hit Long Island power lines with the vengeance of a hurricane and nearly 200,000 customers are still without power. An estimated 523,000 customers lost power since the storm, making it the biggest since 1985’s Hurricane Gloria.
Reports have stated that about ninety-thousand customers have gotten their power restored within the past day, but many are still without power since the storm. Some customers without power are residents of four different nursing homes throughout the island. They are some of many critical care customers that have not received power as of noon on Wednesday.
Other areas still in need of power are in North Haven where municipal buildings have not had their power restored. According to reports, representatives from the Long Island Power Authority have claimed that brief, temporary outages are to be expected over the next few days. This is done to enable workers to repair the power lines, which need to be turned off before they can begin.
Sources have claimed that Long Island Power Authority officials have estimated that ninety percent of customers without power will have it restored by the end of the day on Friday. The National Grid is teaming with Long Island Power Authority workers in order to make speedier repairs. They have boasted that large blocks in need of power are being restored on an hourly basis.
To help in the effort the National Grid has taken over seven-hundred poles and 760,000 feet of cable out of stock in order to perform repairs. They have also reserved over six-hundred transformers and employed many workers. An estimated 6,500 workers are being employed in the restoration process.
Long Island Power Authority officials have also done their part to help with restoration. According to sources, the power company has suspended their billing and collections to put greater attention on restoring power to their customers. This includes transporting their workers to areas where they will answer customers’ phone calls and reports.
