A massive power outage during the weekend affected thousands of residents, some of whom were still without power on Monday.
The power outages started Thursday, Nov. 22 in Otsego, Delaware, Schoharie and Chenango counties, due to a snowstorm that dropped heavy, wet snow throughout the area overnight. The snow turned to rain Saturday.
According to NYSEG’s online outage list, as of 3 p.m. Friday there were 4,655 customers without power in Chenango County; 11,702 were without power in Delaware County, including every resident in town and village of Walton; 2,055 were without power in Otsego County and 1,494 were without power in Schoharie County.
Delaware County Electric Cooperative announced on its website that 3,145 of its customers in Delaware and Schoharie counties were without power as of 4 p.m. Friday.
As of 3 p.m. Monday, power had been restored to most of the area, thanks to the work of NYSEG, DCEC and outside crews that were brought in to fix downed lines and poles.
According to the NYSEG outage map, 376 customers in the towns of Bovina and Delhi were without power at 3 p.m. Monday. There were other sporadic outages among NYSEG customers in Delaware County, including 15 in Middletown. In Chenango County, three customers in Sherburne and eight in Smyrna were still without power, the map showed.
Some customers experienced power restoration and then another outage.
Shelby Cohen, spokesperson for NYSEG’s parent company, Avangrid, said Monday that sometimes crews have to take a facility back down after inspecting the circuits that were repaired during restoration.
“Sometimes additional or more permanent repairs are made after the initial restoration, and that’s what happened today,” Cohen said.
The uncommonly wet and heavy snow fell onto tree limbs, dried out by drought conditions from the lack of rain this fall. Many trees — including ash trees damaged from the invasive emerald ash borer — fell or had their branches snapped off under the weight, landing on power lines and bringing down poles.
Large, old growth trees outside of NYSEG’s right-of-way can still impact power lines when they fall, or when limbs fall.
“Tree impacts are the greatest source of outages in NYSEG’s territory,” Cohen said.
It was hard to say when NYSEG customers will see full power restoration.
“They’re always working on estimated times of restoration and update the app and website as quick as they can,” she said.
As of 4 p.m. Monday, about 343 DCEC customers were still without power, with 70% of the outages in Andes.
The electric cooperative’s CEO, John Gasstrom, said Monday that out of the co-op’s more than 5,000 members, the number of remaining outages was “small, but still a significant number.”
“We are busting out backs to get everyone back by the end of the day,” he said.
Gasstrom said the storm took out a lot of utility poles, unlike past storms that took down wires.
“This time, the heavy snow really damaged a lot of our poles,” he said. “A lot of our lines are lines are in off-road areas, so we needed off-road equipment to get poles in the ground.
Both NYSEG and DCEC crews were assisted in the cleanup work Monday by outside personnel, including line workers, tree crews and bucket and digger truck operators.
Cohen said four NYSEG divisions were affected. The company brought in 3,000 additional personnel from as far away as Kentucky, including crews from United Illuminating in Connecticut.
DCEC also received outside help, as well as off-road vehicles and extra wires and poles.
Crews from the village of Sherburne and New Hampshire Electric Cooperative arrived in Delaware County by Saturday.
The Steuben Rural Electric Cooperative arrived Sunday, and the Otsego Electric Cooperative arrived Monday.