Hometown Heroes: Utility Crews Work Christmas On Power Outages

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The storm that walloped the Hudson Valley over Christmas 2020 caused more than 80,000 power outages for homes and businesses.

That forced hundreds of employees, contractors and crews from out-of-state to work on emergency repairs from Christmas Eve through Boxing Day.

One of them was Jim Bricker of Nanuet, a line technician for Orange & Rockland Utilities.

“Earlier this week, I let my family know that I probably wouldn’t be home for Christmas. They were upset, but they understand it’s all part of the job,” Bricker told Patch.

Jim and his crew were joined by nearly 500 employees and contractors working to repair damage caused by the destructive weather — and that was just for O&R. Thousands more gave up their holidays working for Central Hudson, Con Edison and NYSEG.

By Saturday morning, fewer than 10,000 customers were still without power in the Hudson Valley.

"I just want to wish our customers a safe, Merry Christmas and let them know that we’re out here, we’re getting the job done and we won’t stop until everyone’s power is back," Bricker said.

SEE ALSO:

• Flood Warnings Issued Christmas Morning Across The Hudson Valley
• 14K Customers Without Power In Rockland County: Christmas 2020
• 5K Customers Without Power In Putnam County: Christmas 2020
• Christmas 2020: 40K Without Power In Mid-Hudson
• Christmas 2020: 17,000 Westchester Customers With No Power