Irene leaving floods, downed power lines in her wake – Press & Sun-Bulletin
ALBANY – As Irene continues to bear down on New York this morning, 756,826 utility customers are without power, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this morning.
The bulk of those outages are Long Island Power Authority customers – 404,481. Other outages reported by utility companies total 102,783 for Con Edison; 71,870 for National Grid; 79,191 for New York State Electric & Gas; 66,613 for Central Hudson Gas & Electric; 31,218 for Orange and Rockland counties; and 670 with Rochester Gas & Electric.
Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center downgraded Hurricane Irene to a tropical storm about 9 a.m. today. The center of the storm was moving over New York City at that time, and estimated winds at the time of landfall were 65 mph.
The governor announced this morning that the New York State Thruway between Exit 12 in West Nyack, Rockland County, and Exit 17 in Newburgh was closed in both directions because of flooding.
The north tube of the Holland Tunnel, heading from New York City to New Jersey, was closed due to flooding and vehicles would be diverted to the Lincoln Tunnel, the governor said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said today that subway, bus and rail service remains shut down. The MTA cautioned that the storm surge and heavy rains could lead to “additional widespread flooding, mudslides, washouts, fallen trees and downed power lines that wreak havoc” on the authority’s signals, tracks, stations, tunnels, wires and other infrastructure.
The MTA said it would restore service after the storm as soon as possible “without compromising the safety of our customers, employees or equipment, but it is expected to be a lengthy process that will begin with damage assessment and could include significant repairs.” Its personnel can’t begin assessing the damage in the MTA’s 5,000-square-mile territory until Irene passes.
The governor visited the New York Power Authority’s Blenheim-Gilboa Dam in Schoharie County this morning to assess whether there was any damage from the 2.9 magnitude earthquake there yesterday. He said on Twitter that there was no damage and he was headed to New York City. He also plans to spend time on Long Island today.
On Saturday, Cuomo deployed 1,900 National Guard troops to New York City region and Long Island, where certain areas were under evacuation orders. They are stationed at the Farmingdale Armed Forces Reserve Center on Long Island and Camp Smith in Cortlandt Manor, Westchester County. He directed members of his cabinet to assist at emergency-management centers across the state.