Con Edison crews are preparing to respond to any outages that may occur due to the severe rain and windstorms expected to hit New York City and Westchester County tonight and Wednesday. The company reminds customers to take safety precautions and avoid any downed power lines.
Heavy winds could knock trees into power lines, causing poles and lines to come down and customers to lose power. Stay away from downed lines, as they may be live.
Customers can report downed power lines, outages and check service restoration status at www.conEd.com or by calling 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633). When reporting an outage, customers should have their Con Edison account number available, if possible, and report whether their neighbors also have lost power.
Customers who report outages will be called by Con Edison with their estimated restoration times as they become available.
Also, download Con Edison’s new free iPhone and Android app, My conEdison, to report and check the status of a power problem, and view the company’s interactive online outage map.
Depending on the severity of storm damage, crews will give priority to restoring 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:
If you see downed electrical wires, do not go near them. Treat all downed 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.
Check to 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.
Customers can follow Con Edison on Twitter or like us on Facebook for general outage updates, safety tips and storm preparation information. 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 if needed.
