With the wind that is expected across Northern New York on Thursday night, Dec. 18, power crews are on alert. The wind gusts could be strong enough to cause damage in some areas, officials are warning about the chance of power outages. “Wind is the primary hazard, and we’ve already identified that. The gustier the winds, the more likely it is that we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose electricity service,” said National Grid spokesperson Jared Paventi. Although you can’t change the weather, you can be ready for the problems it could bring.”You know, certainly it’s not something where we can go outside and stop the wind, or anything like that, but I think that there are some things people can do,” Paventi said. First is to check the area that you’re in. “Think about your surroundings. Think about, you know, what you might do if power goes out,” Paventi said. You also need your phone and any handheld lights that you own. “You want to make sure that you have your cell phones charged and ready to go for as long as you can,” Paventi said. “If you have flashlights that need battery power, go ahead and check those now, because if you have to make a run to the store to get batteries, now’s the time to do it.”Officials say you should avoid an open flame.”Stay away from candles as a source of light. A lot of people use them, but they do present a fire hazard because you have an open flame that is, that’s going to be there,” Paventi said. National Grid provides electricity to more than 1.7 million customers in upstate New York. Officials also say to call and alert them and make sure your neighbor does as well.”What that helps us do is it helps us narrow down the location of the outage,” Paventi said. So, if you and I are next-door neighbors and one of us reports an outage and the other one doesn’t, it gives our crews a little bit of intel to say, OK, Jared has an outage, but Blake doesn’t, so maybe it’s not the whole neighborhood. Maybe it’s just one house,” he added. The most important, they say, is to stay away from debris. “Use extreme caution near a downed power line, because just because the line is down doesn’t mean there’s still not electricity flowing through it,” Paventi said.
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. —
With the wind that is expected across Northern New York on Thursday night, Dec. 18, power crews are on alert.
The wind gusts could be strong enough to cause damage in some areas, officials are warning about the chance of power outages.
“Wind is the primary hazard, and we’ve already identified that. The gustier the winds, the more likely it is that we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose electricity service,” said National Grid spokesperson Jared Paventi.
Although you can’t change the weather, you can be ready for the problems it could bring.
“You know, certainly it’s not something where we can go outside and stop the wind, or anything like that, but I think that there are some things people can do,” Paventi said.
First is to check the area that you’re in.
“Think about your surroundings. Think about, you know, what you might do if power goes out,” Paventi said.
You also need your phone and any handheld lights that you own.
“You want to make sure that you have your cell phones charged and ready to go for as long as you can,” Paventi said. “If you have flashlights that need battery power, go ahead and check those now, because if you have to make a run to the store to get batteries, now’s the time to do it.”
Officials say you should avoid an open flame.
“Stay away from candles as a source of light. A lot of people use them, but they do present a fire hazard because you have an open flame that is, that’s going to be there,” Paventi said.
National Grid provides electricity to more than 1.7 million customers in upstate New York. Officials also say to call and alert them and make sure your neighbor does as well.
“What that helps us do is it helps us narrow down the location of the outage,” Paventi said. So, if you and I are next-door neighbors and one of us reports an outage and the other one doesn’t, it gives our crews a little bit of intel to say, OK, Jared has an outage, but Blake doesn’t, so maybe it’s not the whole neighborhood. Maybe it’s just one house,” he added.
The most important, they say, is to stay away from debris.
“Use extreme caution near a downed power line, because just because the line is down doesn’t mean there’s still not electricity flowing through it,” Paventi said.