PSE&G and Orange & Rockland Prepping For Deep Freeze, High Winds ,Freezing Rain and Snow

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, in a press release PSE&G says they are prepared for the high winds, heavy rain and light snow forecast to begin after midnight through Sunday morning, particularly in northern areas of New Jersey. Sustained winds of 30 to 35 mph are expected with possible gusts up to 50 mph. These conditions may cause tree limbs to break and pull down wires, causing outages.

“With temperatures dropping and more severe weather expected Saturday afternoon, we have a solid response plan including extra personnel on hand,” said Jack Bridges, vice president, Electric Operations for PSE&G. “We’ll respond to outages as safely and quickly as possible and we encourage our customers to prepare and report their outages to us.”

PSE&G has additional personnel ready to respond, and is performing system and logistics checks to ensure the availability of critical materials, fuel and other supplies. PSE&G prepares year-round for extreme weather to maintain reliable service for our customers.

Downed wires should always be considered “live.” Stay at least 30 feet away from downed wires, and don’t go near the pole or anything touching the line. Immediately contact PSE&G, at 1-800-436-PSEG (7734) via our mobile app or our website, to report downed wires and dial 911 if an immediate hazard exists.

Orange & Rockland is preparing to mobilize its company-wide emergency response group to repair damage and restore electric service interruptions that could possibly result from a severe winter storm, packing high, gusty winds, periods of heavy rain and as much as 6 inches of snow, that is expected to pound the region Saturday afternoon into Sunday.

Orange & Rockland company and contractor overhead line crews and tree removal experts have been activated for storm duty Saturday. Damage assessment, site safety, customer service operations and the wide array of O&R teams that support those functions also will be deployed over the weekend. In addition, O&R has obtained more contractor overhead line technicians to supplement its storm response. Those additional resources expand O&R’s field workforce by nearly 50 percent its normal size.

For safety’s sake, Orange & Rockland warns the public not to touch or approach any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free 1-877-434-4100. Depending on the situation, you may also want to call your local police to divert traffic until an O&R crew arrives.