National Grid: 100K Outages Expected on LI

The blizzard that's beared down on Long Island could knock out power for nearly 100,000 residents, National Grid President John Bruckner said at a press conference on Friday.

However, he estimated outages wouldn't last more than 24 hours.

So far no customers in North Lindenhurst and the Village had lost power, according to the LIPA outage map.

Bruckner said the company has 700 high-voltage lineman and 250 tree-trimmers ready to act after the storm.

In addition National Grid is upping the number of call-center personnel to provide better communication during and after the storm, Bruckner said.

National Grid has fully restocked its supplies of power lines, transformers and wires so workers don't have to wait for shipments to come in, like they did during Hurricane Sandy.

In the aftermath of Sandy residents hit hard South of Montauk Highway in Lindenhurst waited weeks for power - and gas - to be restored - and in many cases longer.

And when asked on Facebook how confident Lindy residents are that the lights will stay on during this Noreaster, they were skeptical, but glad to hear National Grid would be in charge instead of LIPA.

Christian Minucci expressed how little confidence he had power that would remain on: "Zip, ZERO, NADA!"

"Not very [confident], but at least they're not in charge for this one," said Jessica Gierum Buckley.

Barbara Schaffer said, "If LIPA has anything to do with it, then I'm about as confident as I am in my house not flooding again. : ( "

"National Grid is in charge. LIPA stepped down," noted Genie Strachkevitch-Voulo.

"I think National Grid can do it. Anyone is better than LIPA," Carol Ritorto Aliperti ventured.

Bruckner felt National Grid was prepared for this storm, and said of the efforts during and after the October 29 superstorm: “The resources we needed, we didn’t see until many days after Sandy. For this storm they're on Long Island."

Bruckner also said the company's monitoring the potential storm surge on Long Island’s North Shore, and has already sandbagged its equipment in case of flooding.

“We feel we’re in pretty good shape going into this storm,” Bruckner added.

The biggest concern for National Grid during the storm isn't snow, but wind. Forecasters predict the winds will range from 30 to 40 miles per hour with howling gusts hitting 60 miles per hour.

“This isn't a typical storm. Usually a storm comes in and out in an hour or two. This storm will last a couple days,” he said.

Bruckner said National Grid will have 1,000 personnel on the ground early Saturday to assess the damage. Critical care customers - including hospitals, nursing homes and sewage treatment plants - will be attended to first.

After that areas with the most outages will be the focus, and lastly, the parts of the Island with the least amount of outages.

Bruckner also said National Grid has supplied generators to fuel terminals, so that gas shortages that happened during Sandy don't repeat themselves.

Related Coverage:

• National Grid: 100K Outages Expected on LI 
• Coastal Flooding Concerns Village as Crews Stand Ready for Snow
• MAP: How Much Snow Has Fallen in Lindenhurst?
• Lindy Residents Recall '78 Blizzard as New Storm Hits
• Good Sam Activates Weather Emergency
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• Village 'Ready to Go' Ahead of Noreaster
• LIPA Puts National Grid in Charge of Storm Response
• Noreaster Brings Blizzard Warning for Suffolk County 
• Blizzard Prep: Supplies You Need
• Legislative Breakfast Canceled Due to Impending Storm
• Blizzard Emergency Contact List for Lindy Residents
• Help Lindenhurst Patch Make a Pre-Blizzard List of Supplies
• Red Cross Urges Residents to Prepare for Blizzard
• LINGO Postponed
• 10 Ways to Use Patch During a Blizzard

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