Home Damage Compounds Power Loss

Home Damage Compounds Power Loss

ugg bailey button sale While most of the areas battered by superstorm Sandy have had their electricity restored, there is little that can immediately be done to help the vast majority of those still in the dark, officials said on Sunday.

Utility companies in New York City and New Jersey were expecting to have power grids fully repaired by late Sunday but said some customers won't be able to receive the electricity because of extensive damage to their homes and businesses.

As of Sunday evening, Consolidated Edison Inc., the utility serving most of New York City and Westchester, said it had 22,000 such customers in seaside areas of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island alone.

classic ugg boots uk While the infrastructure to send power into those homes and businesses has been repaired, individual circuit lines and breaker boxes severely damaged by flood waters make it impossible to safely deliver the electricity into the homes.

On Long Island and in the Rockaways in Queens—areas served by the Long Island Power Authority—55,000 customers are similarly affected, officials said.

About 37,500 of those customers are in the Rockaways, where LIPA officials held a town-hall meeting on Sunday to address residents concerns.

"People were generally just happy to get some answers," said Reid von Renesse, a 40-year-old filmmaker who lives on Beach 91st Street in Rockaway Beach. Mr. von Renesse said, however, that LIPA representatives couldn't provide a timeframe for full restoration.

classic ugg boots sale At its peak, Sandy knocked out power for 8,661,527 customers in several states, federal officials said. The storm was blamed for 120 deaths in nine states, including 51 in New York state and 31 in New Jersey.

The Oct. 29 superstorm was followed a week later by a nor'easter which knocked out power to 150,276 customers, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

By early Monday, Con Edison and two New Jersey utilities, expected to have full restoration of power to those whose homes or businesses could accept power. Late Sunday, 2,720 Con Edison customers qualified to receive electricity remained in the dark.

In New Jersey, 19,000 customers of Jersey Central Power & Light were awaiting power restored, not including 30,000 customers on the barrier islands and shoreline communities where "massive infrastructure" damage occurred, the company said.

In central New Jersey, 3,020 customers of Public Service Electric & Gas Company were still without electricity.

cheap classic ugg boots LIPA, which has been criticized by state officials and customers for a lethargic return to service, pledged on Sunday to have 99% of customers who can receive power connected by Tuesday night.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, while touring relief efforts on ravaged Staten Island on Sunday, said a timeline for restoring power is difficult to determine when "you have to go house to house to house to house."

"Given the extent of the damage and the zone that's being covered that is something you can't just wave a magic wand on," she said.

Property owners in areas where the power infrastructure has been repaired, but whose homes and businesses have been determined to be unfit to receive it, must repair the damage and have it inspected by an electrician approved by local authorities—a process that could take weeks.

classic uggs on sale To expedite the process in New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city has set up a "New York City Rapid Repairs" program which would send contractors and city inspectors to building owners to identify and make repairs, then get reimbursement for the work from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Despite the pledges for help from local and federal authorities, many residents of the worst-hit areas said the misery from the lack of power has been compounded by a dearth of information and direction.

"We would like to see somebody official come down the block and give us something—some idea of what's going on," said Gavin Davidson, a 43-year-old barber, who spoke from his darkened home on Beach 44th Street in the Arverne neighborhood of the Rockaways in Queens.

Mr. Davidson joked about trying to keep his three children entertained without television or Internet and spoke of how he's gotten to know neighbors who have banded together for support.

ugg classic short sale Mr. Davidson said he had always smelled his neighbor's cooking, but because of their shared predicament, he "finally got to taste it."