Central Hudson, National Grid prepare for Post-Tropical Cyclone Debby

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)-- As remnants of Debby begin, electricity companies are preparing for potential impacts. Central Hudson and National Grid are readying crews for the potential weather impacts in the Capital Region while also giving their customers safety tips.

With forecasts of heavy rain and high winds into Saturday morning, both companies have initiated emergency response plans. According to Central Hudson, they have brought in extra staff to help.

"We are closely monitoring the weather system that will be moving into the area on Friday, and we will be prepared to respond if outages do occur," Ryan Hawthorne, Vice President of Electric Engineering and Operations at Central Hudson said. "In order to help us restore any outages as safely and quickly as possible, we have secured additional line workers from New York and New Jersey. With this support, Central Hudson has a field force of nearly 400 to respond to the conditions."

As of 2:30 p.m., Central Hudson reported outages in Greene County, Dutchess County and Ulster County, with over 5,000 customers affected.

National Grid has also extended work hours for their staff and have begun pre-staging crews in areas anticipated to be more severely impacted. About 500 customers in the entire 13-county eastern NY region are out of power. 78 of those customers are in Albany County.

"With the amount of rain, we have had in the past 24 hours or so, we have seen reports of down trees, motor vehicle accidents and other issues that have impacted our customers," Patrick Stella, National Grid communications manager said. "Storms can damage the electric system in several ways, but there isn’t much that can be done individually to stop storm damage."

However, both companies urge their customers to know what to do if an outage or emergency occurs. These tips, provided by both companies, are ones to know:

Gas Safety:

• Stop what you're doing. Do not light or use a match. Do not turn lights on or off or use electronics. Do not turn on any other appliance or run water.
• Go outside immediately.
• Call 911 or a gas odor hotline.
• National Grid may shut off individual gas meters and may need to enter the property.

Downed Power Lines:

• Stay at least 30 feet away
• Assume all power lines are live
• Never touch a person or an object that is in contact with a downed line
• Take caution when approaching fallen trees
• Water can conduct electricity; if you see a line in a puddle or flooded area, avoid contact with the water

Staying Informed:

• Customers can text their electricity provider to report outages and to check a repair status
• Each website contains an area to report an outage and to check repairs
• Customers can also call their provider for updates