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Utility crews from Central Hudson have been working around the clock to restore power to more than 35,000 customers who have been impacted by thunderstorms that began toppling trees and felling power lines on Tuesday, July 6.
“We continue to have our full complement of more than 340 line and tree professionals, along with hundreds of employees working in support roles day and night to restore power to our customers as safely and efficiently as possible,” Central Hudson Vice President of Electric Engineering and Operations Ryan Hawthorne said.
“In addition to our existing workforce, an additional 48 line workers have arrived from Canada to help us with our efforts.”
Officials said that “storms began impacting Central Hudson’s service area on Tuesday afternoon and evening when 70 mile-per-hour winds, large hail and frequent lightning strikes interrupted service to thousands of customers in southern Ulster, central Dutchess and Orange counties.
While restoration efforts were ongoing in those areas, a second severe storm cell moved through portions of Greene and Albany counties on Wednesday, July 7, causing trees to fall and bringing power lines down with them.
A second wave of thunderstorms also impacted businesses in Ulster and Dutchess counties on Wednesday night.
As of Thursday, July 8, there were still 167 active outages, impacting 5,815 of Central Hudson’s customers.
In Ulster, Central Hudson was still reporting 3,537 customers impacted by the storms, while 1,610 were still without power in Dutchess, with complete restoration time expected by 10 p.m. on Thursday.
The hardest hit areas were Marbletown (1,582 outages), Olive (843), Kingston (443), Union Vale (413), Hyde Park (329), Rhinebeck (193), Milan (181), Ulster (163), Denning (160), and Hurley (155).
According to Central Hudson, power should be restored to most customers by Thursday night, though some repairs may linger into Friday morning, with more storms possibly on the way.
“These powerful storms have come in waves and left significant damage in their wake,” Hawthorne said. “We know how critical it is to restore service to our customers and we appreciate their patience as we continue to make progress.
“I’d also like to thank all of the state, county and local responders who have helped us by assisting with cleanup efforts and by keeping our communities safe.”
Dry ice and bottled water will be distributed by Central Hudson at the Poughkeepsie Home Depot on North Road beginning at 10 a.m. on Thursday morning.
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