WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. November 3, 2012:
County Executive Robert P. Astorino today (Saturday) conferred with top executives of Con Edison and New York State Electric & Gas, stressing again the need to speedily restore all of the county to full power, with priority to schools and polling places.
Astorino also said that Gov. Cuomo’s office has told him that deliveries of gasoline to retail stations are returning to normal. Generators are being delivered to those stations that have supply but no electric power, he said.
“Again, I am asking all our residents to be patient,” Astorino said. “I know this is hard, particularly as the outages continue and the weather gets colder.”
(Editor’s Note: At noon today WPCNR asked the Communications Office how many Consolidated Edison crews and out of state crews were working in the county at midday; I asked if gasoline storage facilities in the county had been compromised or were in working order, and asked if county hospitals were able to handle the health care load or there were any restrictions. The Department of Communications did not respond to these questions,}
Earlier in the day, Astorino again spoke directly with Con Ed President Craig Ivey, who assured him that no Con Ed resources are being diverted to New York City. Astorino also spoke to NYSEG CEO Mark Lynch.
“Our biggest priorities are our schools. We want all schools open on Monday,” Astorino said. “After that, our priority is our voting places, which in many cases are in schools. Let me assure our residents they will have a place to vote on Tuesday. We are getting generators for some places. And if a poll does not have power by Monday evening, we will have an alternative, nearby place to vote.”
If a poll location is changed, the county will use its paratransit fleet to transport paratransit riders.
There are 380 polling sites in the county, of which 92 were without power as of 2 p.m. Saturday. In Con Ed territory, there are 142 schools total, of which 107 still were without power at this same time. Con Ed anticipates that number will be down to 55 by Saturday evening.
As of 3:30 p.m. on Saturday about 108,469 Con Ed Westchester customers were without power, down from 120,374 Friday afternoon. In addition, there are about 21,200 NYSEG customers without power, down from 25,499 Friday afternoon. That compares with 1.5 million customers in New Jersey and 750,000 customers on Long Island who are without power.
As to gasoline supplies, Astorino expressed the hope that things will return to normal and urged residents who do not need gasoline not to top off their tanks.
The county’s Emergency Operations Canter continues in operation around the clock to oversee the recovery and coordinate efforts with local governments. After requests for police support came in, the county Department of Public Safety activated its Sheriff’s Emergency Force to supplement local police operations. In addition, all county police offices have been placed on 12-hour shifts to maximize officers for deployment to assist municipalities.
On a daily basis, the county EOC has conference calls with municipalites.
Astorino’s phone conversations Saturday were just the latest with Con Ed and NYSEG about power restoration. He pledged to keep pressing them.
