PSEG Long Island reported outages affecting 25,000 customers in its service area as of 9 p.m. Sunday and said it expected to have power restored to nearly all remaining customers by tonight.
Utility crews are making “steady progress,” the company said.
PSEG-LI’s outage map — which the company is still cautioning may not contain accurate data — is showing 386 customers still without power in the Town of Riverhead. Over 200 of those customers are in various locations in Wading River, according to the map, and one neighborhood in South Jamesport is reported to have more than 80 customers without power. The rest of the outages in Riverhead Town are scattered throughout the town, according to the map,with most affecting less than five customers apiece.
The map this morning (last update at 6:29 a.m.) also puts the total number of PSEG-LI customers affected at just over 48,000 — well above the 25,000 customers the company said were still affected in its press release last night.
The reason PSEG gives for the ongoing inconsistencies between the map data and the numbers reported in its press releases is “power restoration is progressing faster than can be displayed on the outage map.” The map “will continue to fluctuate as we refine the data,” PSEG-LI said.
The online outage map states that information displayed there is “updated every 30-60 minutes.”
PSEG-LI said an additional 1,000 workers arrived yesterday to help with its restoration efforts, brining the total to more than 5,000 line workers, tree trimmers and other personnel. Another 500 are expected to arrive today, the company said in the press release. It now has more than 5,000 crew members working to restore power to affected customers, the company said.
PSEG Long Island said it is “finding that each job is requiring more work than anticipated due to the extent of the storm’s damage.”
The utility crews prioritize critical facilities first, followed by outages affecting the largest numbers of customers, and then outages affecting small numbers or individual customers, according to the PSEG-LI press release.
“The backbone of the system — transmission lines and substations — has been restored, and we are hard at work restoring the distribution system that serves our neighborhoods,” the company said. “The damage to many of these circuits is extensive, and as these individual damage spots are assessed, estimated restoration times will be refined.”
The winds of Tropical Storm Isaias battered the region last Tuesday, knocking out power to more than 420,000 PSEG-LI customers.
PSEG Long Island will distribute free water and ice today from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. (or while supplies last) at the following locations:
- Patchogue – 460 E Main St
- Brentwood – 1650 Islip Ave
- Greenlawn – 288 Pulaski Rd
- Roslyn – 250 Willis Ave
- Woodmere – Five Towns Shopping Center- 253-01 Rockaway Blvd
- Babylon – Babylon Town Hall – 200 E Sunrise Hwy
- Far Rockaway – 19-09 Plainview Ave-the lot is on the south side of Plainview Ave. between Beach 19th and Beach 20th St.
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