Heavy, wet snow downs trees, knocks out power
Dec. 11—Thousands of residents in the area were without power Monday after heavy, wet snow and wind caused trees to snap and power lines to come down.
According to a media release from the New York State Electric & Gas, approximately 3,900 customers in its Oneonta division were without power as of 3 p.m. Monday, Dec. 11. The Oneonta division includes areas of Delaware, Greene, Herkimer, Oneida, Otsego and Schoharie counties.
The Delaware County Electric Cooperative reported on its website as of 3:30 p.m., there were 1,795 customers without power. The Otsego Electric Cooperative announced on its website 1,728 of its customers were without power as of 4 p.m.
Both NYSEG and DCEC reported all customers in Jefferson were without power. DCEC said on its Facebook page, the outage was because the Jefferson substation was down. NYSEG said on its website it estimated a restoration time of 10 p.m. Monday.
DCEC said crews started responding to reports of power outages at 4 a.m. and warned customers on its Facebook page "it may be a long day to restore power to all. Please remember, always assume a downed wire is live. Do not touch the wire or any tree/tree branches in contact with the wire. Also, do not drive over downed lines in the road."
NYSEG said in its release, "this may be a multiple day event and will provide restoration times once the extent of the damage is more thoroughly assessed."
Crews were pre-staged ahead of the storm, and 130 crews are working to assess the damage and restore power to those affected, the release said.
Otsego Electric Cooperative said on its Facebook page crews started responding to outages at 2 a.m. Monday. The damage included broken poles, downed trees and potentially live wires.
Delaware County had the most residents without power. County E911 Coordinator Mark Rossley said there were 19 calls for trees down and 23 calls for wires down from midnight until 5 p.m. Monday. The county works well with NYSEG and DCEC.
"We did not have a lot of automobile accidents, which definitely helped," he said. "Highway departments were already out working prior to daybreak."
He said the calls were spread out throughout the county and the storm wasn't as bad as expected because "we didn't get the anticipated wind. We had a lot of lead time for the approaching storm. Unfortunately, sometimes there is not a lot you can do in preparation for the trees and wires to come down."
Several area schools closed or delayed opening because of the area power outages, downed trees and power lines and road conditions.
According to the National Weather Service in Binghamton, snow totals from Sunday night's storm ranged from 1 inch in Norwich to 13.7 inches in Roxbury. Plattekill Mountain announced on its website, it received 11 inches of snow and plans to open this weekend.
The storm started as rain Sunday, and flood watches were issued in addition to the winter storm warning and watches.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.
