NEW YORK – Con Edison is monitoring the rain and strong winds expected to hit the New York region tonight and to intensify Friday morning.
Crews are preparing to respond to any outages that may occur due to the weather. Trees and branches could be ready to fall after having been weakened by Hurricane Sandy. Some of those trees and limbs could fall into power lines and other overhead electrical equipment, knocking customers out of service.
Con Edison reminds customers to take safety precautions and avoid fallen power lines.
Customers can report downed power lines, outages and check service restoration status by computer or mobile device at www.conEd.com or by calling 1-800-75CONED (1-800-752-6633). When reporting an outage, have your Con Edison account number available, if possible, and report whether your neighbors have also lost power.
Depending on the severity of storm damage, crews will give priority to repairing equipment that will provide power to the most customers as quickly as possible, then move on to restore smaller groups and individual customers who are without power.
Con Edison offers the following safety tips:
Do not go near downed electrical wires. Treat wires as if they are live. Never attempt to move them or touch them with your hands or any object. Be mindful that downed wires can be hidden from view by tree limbs, leaves or water.
Report all downed wires to Con Edison and your local police department immediately. If a power line falls on your car while you’re in it, stay inside the vehicle and wait for emergency personnel.
· If your power goes out, disconnect or turn off appliances that would otherwise turn on automatically when service is restored. If several appliances start up at once, the electric circuits may overload.
· Make sure your flashlights and any battery-operated radios are in working order. Make sure you have a supply of extra batteries.
· Weather updates and news on restorations of electrical service can be heard on most local radio and television stations.
For more tips on storm preparation, go to www.conEd.com.
The company is in contact with the New York City Office of Emergency Management and the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services to coordinate storm response.