Tens of Thousands Still Without Power in Westchester – 27% in Hard Hit Sound Shore Area

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — As of Friday morning, Con Edison is reporting 64,919 customers are without power in Westchester County, that’s down from over 200,000 in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias.

17,267 (27%) of those customers are in the Sound Shore area.

• Mamaroneck Town 8,307 (Larchmont 1,241, Mamaroneck Town 3,169, Mamaroneck Village 3,897)
• New Rochelle 5,130
• Pelham 907 (Pelham Manor 570, Pelham Village 337)
• Rye City 1,865
• Rye Town 1,058 (Port Chester 400, Rye Brook 658)

In a statement late Thursday Con Edison said:

“The work, which is taking place on the streets and in aerial buckets in the region’s neighborhoods, will continue around the clock until all the approximately 300,000 customers affected by storm Isaias are back in service.”

“We realize it is incredibly frustrating to be without power and that is why we are working around the clock to get customers back in service,” said Robert Schimmenti, Con Edison’s senior vice president, Electric Operations. “We have additional mutual aid and contractor workers arriving each day to help us restore service safely. We assure our customers that our crews will remain on the job 24-7 until everyone has their power back.”

New Rochelle resident Pam O’Keefe-Rocanello is frustrated.

“We still have no power and no updates on when we will be restored,” said O’Keefe-Rocanello. I live near the high school.”

“I understand there was a storm and its OK to lose power but we don’t see any Con Ed trucks around and now it’s day 4.”

“We pay such high rates, I would expect better customer service,” she added.

“I just feel like they should do check ins on the elderly,” said Julie Tay. “My neighbors are elderly and I feel bad for them. I’ve offered support to the ones who haven’t evacuated.”

Sally Moran of Mamaroneck is feeling stranded without her cable television and internet service.

“They do their stuff after Con Ed. Con Ed does not care,” she said. “They need to hire more people and be more diligent. I’m disgusted. Three days cut off from the World. Not bad enough we have a pandemic.”

Mamaroneck Town Supervisor, Nancy Seligson issued a statement the day after Tropical Storm Isaias. 

“I know how upsetting it is to be in this situation again with memories of Super Storm Sandy. We learned last time that the electric grid is built to withstand winds of up to 50 mph. Yesterday we had gusts as high as 65 mph.”

Rye Brook Mayor Paul Rosenberg told residents:

“As if 2020 couldn’t get any better, Tropical Storm Isaias really did tremendous damage today to Westchester County and Rye Brook.”

MyRye is reporting that Rye Mayor Josh Cohn sent an email Wednesday to residents expressing his concerns:

“As a mayoral veteran of the March 2018 snow and wind storms, the related investigative response and Con Ed’s promises to do better, I was baffled by the clear possibility that we may be in the early days of yet another Con Ed “accident.””

That fear appears to have been realized:

“Con Edison plans to finish restoring power to the vast majority of those affected by Sunday night. Remaining customers will get service early next week.”

New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson announced:

“Dry ice will be available at City Hall on Hamilton Avenue from 2pm – 9pm. Con Ed will also have an information truck at the same site until 9pm.”

Con Edison says instructions for safe handling and disposal of dry ice is printed on the packages:

“Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide and should be used only in well-ventilated areas. A reminder: children and pets should be kept safely away from dry ice.”

Pelham issued a statement yesterday:

“In yesterday’s inter-municipal conference call, ConEd reported that the damage to their infrastructure throughout the County is extensive. The village remains in contact with ConEd representatives to advocate for service restoration. Last night, Mayor Lapey was in contact with County Executive Latimer, who will be on a call with ConEd today.”

“ConEd has ice available for pickup at the Cross County Center in Yonkers. This facility will be open until 6 PM.”