LIPA Responds Quickly and to Restore Outages in the Wake of Tropical Storm
Ernesto
Uniondale, NY—September 3, 2006—The remnants of Tropical Storm Ernesto
battered Long Island this weekend uprooting trees and taking down power lines.
With wind gusts reaching over 57MPH accompanied by torrential rains, the Long
Island Power Authority’s (LIPA) restoration crews worked tirelessly to restore
service to customers that were affected by service interruptions.
Since Saturday at 12:00 AM, 127,799 LIPA customers were affected by this
weather system at various times. The peak number of outages (49,898) occurred at
5 PM on Saturday, with 50% of all customer outages (64,266) occurring between
2PM and 6PM on Saturday.
800 field personnel working 16 hour shifts replaced poles, repaired power
lines, removed trees from LIPA facilities, replaced fuses and reset
transformers. Due to the hard work of these dedicated men and women
approximately 86% of all outages were restored in less than four hours.
“This success is a result of LIPA investing over $ 2 billion dollars in
upgrades to Long Island’s electric system,” said LIPA Chairman Richard M.
Kessel. We all owe a thank-you to the men and women of our restoration crews,
who work so hard in very difficult and often dangerous conditions to keep the
island’s lights on. On Saturday during the height of the storm, restoration
crews restored a remarkable 102,307 customer outages.”
LIPA’s customers are encouraged to visit LIPA’s Storm Center on LIPA’s Web
site www.lipower.org. LIPA’s Storm Center features updated weather reports,
electric outage information and tips to stay prepared for weather emergencies.
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