PEARL RIVER – Orange and Rockland
Utilities has declared a storm alert today. This means that O&R field
and contractor crews, customer service representatives and support employees
throughout the company are ramping up for high-volume service outages based
on the latest weather forecast for heavy rains and winds today and Monday.
It’s predicted that gusts could peak as high as 50 mph between dawn
and noon on Monday.
There are several ways customers can report outages and check service restoration
status:
Go to www.oru.com/outage from any computer or web-enabled mobile device;
Use the O&R mobile app from your iPhone, iPad or Android device;
Text “OUT” to 69678 (myORU); or
Call Customer Assistance at 1-877-434-4100
This video describes
the typical storm repair and power restoration process.
To help its customers prepare to weather a storm, O&R offers these tips:
· For safety’s sake, don’t touch or approach any downed
wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free
1-877-434-4100. Depending on the situation, you may also want to call your
local police to divert traffic until an O&R crew arrives.
· Maintain a distance of at least 50 feet from downed wires and anything
they are in contact with including puddles of water and fences. Supervise
your children so that they are not in the vicinity and keep pets on a leash
or otherwise secure.
· If a fallen wire is draped over a car, do not approach the car
and make rescue attempts. Remain a safe distance away, and try to keep the
occupant of the vehicle calm. If possible, emergency personnel should handle
the situation.
· Have emergency equipment within reach — portable radio, flashlights,
spare batteries, first aid kit, cell phone and important medications. Keep
O&R’s toll-free number 1-877-434-4100 near the phone to report
power outages.
· If you experience a power outage, don’t assume that O&R
automatically knows about it or that someone else will report it. To be
sure the outage is reported, please call O&R toll-free at 1-877-434-4100
to let O&R know what happened. The more information you can provide,
the more O&R can help you.
· Remember: if the base station of your cordless phone plugs into
the wall, your phone will be unusable during a power outage.
For more information, visit O&R’s Storm Center at www.oru.com.
