Isaiah cut a path of destruction throughout the Tri-State, drowning trees and power lines and left more than 1 million residents and businesses in the dark at the height of the outages.
Now, the race to restore power to desperately needed air conditioners, refrigerators and electronic devices remains in full swing under sunny skies as thousands of power workers on Tuesday attempted to recover energy with temperatures in the 1990s.
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“ConEd and PSEG did an angry job,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said. “It’s a technical term, ‘bad job.’ They were not prepared, and they did not anticipate what it would take to get back online quickly … (Residents) are tired, and they are right, and I’m with them. “
NEW YORK CITY
As of Tuesday morning, there were still about 4,200 without power in the city, with most of them – about 3,400 – in Queens.
There were promises from Con Edison that most would recover by Sunday night, but that deadline came and went with many still in the dark.
However, ConEd said they are making progress, although it may not be as fast as many would like – especially in Rochelle Village, where all you hear are generations and angry customers.
“On Wednesday they told us we were going to get it on Thursday,” said Kwame Inniss. “Thursday, they say Friday. And every day it changes all the time.”
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Every day on 173rd Street, they hang on to ConEd’s promises about when their power would be restored, and even get a text Saturday that they were back in business. But still there is no power.
“They say they’re sorry, there’s no rush time for power,” Inniss said. “At night everyone sits outside until they are ready to go to bed, and then they go into their house … They have to get their action together. We pay you all the time. As soon as we owe you money, you want us unleash power. And you do not do your job. “
And the frustration is growing, with many having to throw away hundreds of dollars worth of food. And as it gets hotter, everyone turns in their cars, including 1-month-old Bryson’s grandmother, trying to keep the brand new baby cool.
“At night we have to be in the car,” she said. “We have to be outside because it’s hot.”
About 300,000 Con Edison customers lost power in the storm.
LONG ISLAND
PSEG reported Tuesday morning that more than 30,000 customers were left without power and power may not be restored until Wednesday.
PSEG President Daniel Eichhorn said as crews repair they find more damage, which slows the estimate of restoration.
“What we find in this storm is that work that we find and additional work that stays in is significant,” he said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warned PSEG on Monday that they are in danger of losing their franchise because of the ‘ugly’ job they have done.
“I want the utilities to know that we are not sticking to the concept in New York that everything is too big to fail,” he said. “Your franchise can be withdrawn.”
Eichhorn would not comment on the governor.
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“It’s just been impossible to stay indoors. It’s just so hot,” said resident Lori Jakers, who lives on Opal Drive, in Plainview.
Resident Vincent Bono said he wished PSEG had been more honest about when power would be restored instead of delaying day after day
“Just tell me the truth,” he said. “That way, we can determine what we need to do.”
Some say they are at risk because they depend on power to refrigerate their medicines, and many ask themselves why some weeks see more outages than others.
“No one has made a plan as an attempt to rebuild our infrastructure, and as you can see in this community, we are paying one of the highest tax rates in this whole country,” said one resident. “It’s awful.”
Laura Curran, president of Nassau County, said she has sent two letters to PSEG requesting that they return customers for spoiled food and medication and they are also offering people refunds on their bills for the month of August.
“We call on PSEG Long Island to address some of the pitfalls of its blunt and moderate storm response,” she said.
Eichhorn said the company has received a number of requests that the utility offer to pay for spoiled food and other items. He said the company will issue a statement on the matter later.
The New York Attorney General has also begun an investigation into the power of attorney’s response. PSEG says it will cooperate fully if everyone is back in power.
NORTHERN SUBURBS
Con Edison crews remained in Westchester streets Tuesday morning delivering power to customers hit by Isaias. More than 7,100 residents remain in the dark.
More than 3,800 restoration workers, some 1,800 of whom are employees of Con Edison, continue to remove trees and downwires, repair – and in many cases rebuild – equipment destroyed in the storm. Crews have worked around the clock to restore power to customers.
“We have an army of crews dedicated to the safe recovery of services to customers affected by the devastating storm,” said Robert Schimmenti, former Vice President of Con Edison of Electric Operations. “It is our only focus and will remain so until every customer is back in service.”
New Rochelle is perhaps the second largest city in Westchester, but initially even Mayor Noam Bramson said he could not get through to ConEd.
“At least there were serious issues on that front, where I’ll only felt in the last 24 hours that I have a grip on what’s going on within the boundaries of New Rochelle,” Bramson said.
ConEd had no response to the governor’s comments that its franchise could be withdrawn, but said the end is near when it comes to its restoration work and promised that most of Westchester’s customers will be back in business by Monday night.
CONNECTICUT
Eversource Connecticut said it had restored the service to 741,000 customers and expected 90% of its customers would have power by Sunday night. But their online community map showed that most communities would not be fully restored until Monday or Tuesday.
The utility said about 35,000 customers were left without a 1.3 million customer base Tuesday morning.
Connecticut Gov. Speaking on CBS ‘Face the Nation, Ned Lamont on Sunday said the COVID-19 pandemic had affected recovery efforts, including hiring state restoration personnel currently on Connecticut’s quarantine list. New York and New Jersey are.
“In the midst of a COVID pandemic, ‘Hey, I got a quarantine on people from South Carolina, (but) please come up and repair our wires,’ he said.” But we get people tested and we repair the the thread. Number one safety, we need to get electricity again. “
Lamont said all of those outside line workers are considered essential and will not be subject to the 14-day quarantine.
NEW JERSEY
About 780 customers of various utilities in New Jersey were left without power Tuesday morning because efforts to restore electricity in Garden State were nearly complete.
That is down to more than 1 million without power at the height of the strikes. Most of the remaining are in Morris, Essex, Salem and Bergen counties.
JCP & L reported crews have replaced more than 140,000 feet of wire, hundreds of poles and worked through more than 400 closed roads. The utility was projected to regain power on Tuesday at 11:30 p.m.
PSE & G said its workers had restored the service to 99.5% of customers who lost electricity during the storm.
(Some information from the Associated Press)
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