Storm Update

The multiday snowstorm that hit the East Coast last week was challenging for both residents and Con Edison. All told 50,000 households in Westchester had no power on Friday morning February 26th and Con Edison had 300 crews working on the ground to restore it.

According to Con Edison spokesman Bob McGee, Con Edison brought in teams from as far away as Ohio and Pennsylvania to back up the force in Westchester County. As so many of the outages were due to trees that fell on the lines, Con Edison also hired local contractors to cut down trees and remove debris.

By Saturday morning Con Ed had brought power back to 28,000 homes leaving another 22,000 in the dark. The company prioritizes cases by working first on those repairs that will bring power back to the most homes.

As Scarsdale has overhead wiring we were hit much harder than residents of New York City where power lines are below ground. McGee also asserted that if Con Edison had not done their tree trimming program this past year, they estimated that the situation would have been three times as bad.

The heavy snow on the ground made the work difficult as dangerous live wires could be hidden beneath the snow. Crews had to proceed with extreme caution and luckily over the five days of work there were no injuries. As of Tuesday afternoon March 2, only 220 of the 50,000 homes in Westchester were still without power, two of those in Scarsdale.

While some waited out the storm at home, other's took refuge in nearby hotels.  According to Hugh Anderson, General Manager of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains, and estimated 50 guests checked in over the weekend to get warm.  The hotel staff welcomed local residents with special group breakfasts and dinners and both the pool and the health club were enjoyed by the crowd.