Severe thunderstorms leave much of Southern Tier without power, downed trees, other damage
Thousands of electric customers across the Twin Tiers lost power when severe thunderstorms rumbled through the region Monday.
Many of those residents remained without power Tuesday and into Wednesday, and utility company crews scrambled to restore service while other emergency responders worked to remove downed trees and deal with other damage the storm left in its wake.
New York State Electric & Gas reported about 24,000 customers in the Elmira Division, which includes Steuben, Schuyler and Chemung counties, were without electricity Tuesday morning. By around 9 p.m. Tuesday night, approximately 15,300 customers in the Elmira division remained without power.
The majority of customers in the Elmira division can expect to have service restored by 2 p.m. Thursday, NYSEG said Tuesday night.
In the Ithaca division, approximately 10,800 customers were still without power, including in Cayuga, Chemung, Cortland, Schuyler, Seneca, Tioga and Tompkins counties. The majority of customers in the Ithaca division can expect to be restored by noon Thursday, according to NYSEG.
NYSEG said more than 300 lineworkers and tree personnel are staged across its service divisions to help restore power, and more are in transit.
Elsewhere, Steuben Rural Electric reported 81 outages in Bath, 153 in Cameron, 49 in Thurston, 61 in Woodhull, 116 in Rathbone, and 326 in Tuscarora Tuesday morning.
The damage was less severe in Broome County, but around 1,600 NYSEG customers were without power in Broome Tuesday morning.
In Tioga County, Pennsylvania, more than 2,000 Wellsboro Electric customers were affected by ongoing power outages.
Downed trees and power lines, fires in aftermath of storm
Chemung County Sheriff Bill Schrom said there have been multiple reports of fires breaking out along Maple Avenue in Elmira and in the Pine City area, along with downed trees and power lines around the county.
In Steuben County, Monday’s storm left an extensive trail of damage and thousands without power, according to Timothy D. Marshall, the county’s director of public safety.
Marshall said hardest hit were the towns of Woodhull, Tuscarora, Lindley, Erwin, Campbell, Thurston, Hornby and both the town and city of Corning. The Corning Fire Department said portions of trees came down and hit cars and homes.
“There was no major damage in the city,” said Corning City Fire Chief Brad Davies. “Some limbs and trees did hit houses and vehicles, but the damage around the city was relatively minimal.”
A free bottled water distribution event is ongoing in Painted Post from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Wednesday.
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Marshall said downed trees and fallen power lines made driving tricky, and officials asked residents to limit travel while crews worked to clear debris.
Local fire departments and electric crews worked overnight, responding to multiple calls for service, Marshall said.
Where to find water, ice, cooling stations in Chemung County during power outage
At noon Wednesday, the Chemung County Office of Emergency Management will hold a water andice distribution for individuals who are still affected by the power outages.
The locations are Bradley Farms in Town of Southport at 1543 Maple Ave., and the Erin Volunteer Fire Department at 1464 Swartwood Hill Rd.
The event is to assist individuals who are still without power, said the county. Two 7-pound bags of ice and bottled water will be distributed.
"Please be advised that we have been told by NYSEG that dry ice will be available sometime this afternoon," stated the county. "The manner in which it will be distributed has not been shared with county officials."
Residents without power in the Town of Van Etten will be able to pick up water at the Van Etten Fire Department, located at 321 Route 224, at noon Wednesday.
In the Town of Caitlin, residents without power may find potable water at the Wesleyan Church, located at the corner of Chambers Road and Route 414. People will be on site to help residents.
Chemung County has established cooling stations that are available now at these Elmira locations:
Steele Memorial Library, 101 E Church St.
New Beginnings United Methodist Church, 300 E Miller St.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Staff writer Neal Simon contributed to this story. Follow Jeff Murray on Twitter @SGJeffMurray. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. Offers start as low as $1.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Thunderstorms leave wake of damage, power outages in Southern Tier
