LIPA Restores Wind Storm Outages
Hicksville – October 28, 2006 – The soaking rains and high winds battering Long Island today is uprooting trees and taking down power lines. With wind gusts reaching over 50MPH accompanied by heavy rains, the Long Island Power Authority’s (LIPA) restoration crews are working to restore service to customers affected by service interruptions.
Since mid-night, about 44,000 LIPA customers have been impacted by sever weather system that’s crossing the Island. So far, 25,000 of customers have been returned to service and 14,000 are currently being worked on. 5,000 remain to be dispatched.
650 personnel are working 16 hour shifts to replace poles, repair power lines, remove trees from LIPA facilities, replace fuses and reset transformers from 8am to 4pm. A total of 705 will be working from 4pm to midnight and 129 will be working overnight on Sunday from midnight to 8am.  A total of 800 personnel will be continuing to restore outages
beginning at 8am on Sunday.
“We all owe a thank-you to the men and women of our restoration crews, who are out in the elements working in dangerous and difficult conditions to keep the island’s lights on and make service restorations,” said LIPA Chairman Richard M. Kessel. “We also need to recognize the personnel who work to assess the storm’s impact on our service area, dispatch the repair crews and manage he logistical support needed to keep the field crews properly equipped, as well as the Call Center representatives who take customer calls.
“We will continue to keep extra crews working to making restoration as quickly as possible, and they will be working in 16-hour shifts around clock,” said Mr. Kessel. “We ask our customers to be patient. This is a powerful storm, and restorations are being made as quickly as possible.”
LIPA’s customers are encouraged to visit LIPA’s Storm Center on LIPA’s Web site www.lipower.org for updated weather reports, electric outage information and tips to stay prepared for weather emergencies. LIPA, a non-profit electric utility, owns the retail electric system on Long Island and provides electric service to more than 1.1 million
customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. LIPA does not own any electric generation assets on Long Island.
LIPA Contact Information:
Media Pager: (516) 525-LIPA
LIPA News Center
http://www.lipower.org/newscenter
LIPA Storm Center
http://www.lipower.org/stormcenter
