SULLIVAN -- In its wake, snowstorm Ezekiel buried Sullivan County with ten to 12 inches of snow this week.

The combination of ice and snow created multiple power outages throughout the county, which had crews working several nights.

According to New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) Corporate Communications Manager Michael Jamison, the storm impacted roughly 6,450 customers in Sullivan County.

For customers in Fallsburg, Highland and Barryville, the power went out on Tuesday morning, with an initial estimated power restoration time to be around 11 p.m. that day.

Many places were restored before that time.

In Yulan, 40 customers lost power on Tuesday and were not restored until late Wednesday due to significant damage and the difficult terrain.

Jamison said the Yulan circuit is more than 100 miles in length and heavy snow that was affixed to pine trees caused a number of issues that caused repairs to take longer.

NYSEG also had to use specialized off-road equipment.

The storm also caused several car accidents that took down utility poles.

“Our crews faced extremely rough terrain, extensive damage and a weather event with an unusually long duration. Despite all of those factors, they safely restored the vast majority of customers, [except] for the few mentioned on the Yulan circuit, within 24 hours,” said Jamison.

Incoming District 1 Legislator Rob Doherty said when he enters the legislature next year, he wants to work on NYSEG and the power outages.

“I think that they're outrageous, and I think that we need to get after the Public Service Commission and put more pressure on NYSEG so that these constant power outages are not happening to us on a daily basis,” said Doherty.

O&R

Orange and Rockland Utilities (O&R) customers were also without power, and according to their website, approximately 35,000 O&R customers lost power during this event in the region.

Seventy-seven customers in Mamakating, Lumberland, and Forestburgh were seeing estimated restoration times of Wednesday, December 4 at 11 p.m.

According to O&R's website, they sent a large crew of overhead linemen and about 380 contractor repair crews from other companies to Orange, Sullivan, Passaic and Sussex counties.

“There is not much you can do with a storm like this,” said Mamakating Deputy Supervisor Brenda Giraldi.

O&R responses, according to Giraldi, have been good.

When the power went out on Tuesday, O&R told Giraldi that 2,700 customers were out in the town and 500-plus in the Village of Wurtsboro with an estimated restoration time of Wednesday at 11 p.m.

“They have done their best to get us back up and running,” said Giraldi.

By Wednesday, Giraldi said the town was 95 percent back up and running.

But Mamakating is not taking any chances with the cold weather and on Wednesday opened the doors to town hall as a warming center from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Giraldi said the town was prepared to extend the warming center hours if the power was not restored.

Giraldi said the town and O&R are working together throughout the year.

O&R sends reports in the summer to Giraldi on where they will be cutting trees and limbs.

But Giraldi says it can be unpredictable on what areas would be without power when a storm hits.

She said, even though there was tree trimming done, the area went dark, and that you can't predict which trees will go down during a storm.

She understands that O&R is trying their best in harsh weather conditions, and she said, “It's not an easy fix. These linemen can't be on the poles when it's really windy, then you're talking injury or deaths. You can't put them at risk either.”

Forestburgh officials, however, believe they suffered at the hands of O&R's response time and aging infrastructure.

“Orange and Rockland service has gotten substantially worse over the last few years. The lines that service our towns are extremely aged, many being simple, uninsulated small gauge wire that breaks at the slightest touch of a tree limb,” said Forestburgh Town Supervisor Dan Hogue Jr.

The supervisor said that he has been in contact with O&R in the last three years, but according to him, much has fallen on deaf ears.

Just last month, Hogue said there were multiple outages that occurred due to aging infrastructure.

Hogue said in one incident, a small limb was able to take down a wire on North Road.

The wire came down at 1 a.m. and Hogue said it was a live wire and was burning on the ground until later on that day at 6 p.m.

“I can't believe they left a live smoking wire on the ground that long,” said Hogue.

He added that O&R did send someone to go out and block people from going near the live wire.

“I understand these repairs take time, but almost every time the wind blows or we get a small storm, almost one third of the town loses power for a very long time. Unacceptable,” said Hogue.

“We certainly pay enough for electric service, and it's time they start reinvesting in their infrastructure without rate increases,” added Hogue.

The Democrat reached out to O&R but did not receive a response by press time Thursday.