The unseasonable snowstorm that knocked down trees and limbs and caused widespread electric service interruptions throughout region last weekend prompted a historic response by Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. “Thanks to early preparations and steady progress made by crews, we were able to mobilize a small army of employees and contractors to successfully address what came to be the third-largest storm in our history,” said James P. Laurito, President of Central Hudson.

The utility amassed a field force of more than 500, including mutual aid crews from Albany, Long Island and Tennessee, to address approximately 3,000 individual repairs across its entire Mid-Hudson service area to restore electric service to customers. The storm last weekend brought up to 20 inches of heavy wet snow, causing trees and limbs, many still heavily laden with foliage, to fall onto power lines, interrupting electric service to more than half of Central Hudson’s customers. “Despite widespread outages remaining in much of the Northeast, electric service for our customers was substantially restored in less than one week,” said Laurito.

“Central Hudson follows a storm emergency plan when preparing for and restoring electric service to our customers,” said Laurito. “We were also in constant communications with emergency management officials, municipal leaders, the news media, critical care facilities and our customers throughout the restoration process.”

Through Wednesday, Central Hudson received more than 247,000 calls from customers, with 25,000 answered by Customer Service Representatives and the balance handled by the automated system. Also, four Community Briefings, or conference calls with municipal officials, were held to update community leaders on the restoration efforts. In addition, Central Hudson received and responded to more than 1,000 posts to its Facebook page and created a dedicated “storm” page on its website that included restoration updates, dry ice and bottled water distribution locations, and shelter information. More than 32,000 pounds of dry ice and 61,000 bottles of water were distributed at four locations following the storm.
“We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to the many, many community partners who played important roles in restoring service to 156,000 residents and businesses in less than one week, including emergency response personnel and volunteers; municipal leaders and elected officials; highway crews; community organizations for providing needed services; mutual aid crews and contractors who assisted in our restoration efforts; and, most of all, our customers for their patience, support and understanding,” said Laurito.

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