BINGHAMTON – NYSEG, the utility serving Otsego County, is preparing for high winds and rain across the region Friday afternoon and into the evening. Customers may experience service disruptions, the utility reported.
The storm is expected to strike most of the NYSEG’s Central New York footprint.
Current forecasts call for isolated storms to begin Friday afternoon and continue into the evening. The storms are expected to bring rain and winds, with gusts potentially reaching upwards of 50 mph. The strong winds, combined with rain, have the potential to bring down trees and limbs, causing damage to overhead power lines and other electrical equipment.
NYSEG reports power knocked out by Friday’s tornado had been restored to all Otsego County customers today. In Delaware County, only one customer remains without power.
The company and its sister, Rochester Electric & Gas, expect to have power restored to all customers across Central New York by midnight.
Twenty-four hours after a tornado hammered Otsego County, knocking down trees and creating hundreds of outages, 728 customers are still without power this hour, NYSEG reports.
Most of the outages were in the county’s northwest quadrant, from Fly Creek north to Springfield and west to Edmeston.
While restorations are progressing as quickly and safely as possible, the county said, there are still “a few isolated customers” in Otsego County, as well as Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Greene, Herkimer, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Schoharie and Ulster counties.
The Upstate Companies, Mount Upton, hang the new signal next to Cooperstown’s venerable – and only – traffic signal that is being replaced at Main and Chestnut. Upstate’s John Rupert, Binghamton, and Derek Beach, Bainbridge hung the new addition, and said the arrival of a NYSEG crew is all that awaited to complete the transition. A federally funded project, it has been six years in the making. Deputy Mayor Cindy Falk, at the scene, advised drivers that the intersection (around Mel’s at 22) will be paved all day Thursday, so it would be wise to avoid that downtown corner. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
ONEONTA – Thomas E. Porteus, 86, a NYSEG retiree with a lifelong commitment to 4H, including as a judge at the Otsego County Fair, passed away peacefully on March 14, 2020 at Chestnut Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.
He was born Aug. 1, 1933 in Milford, the son of James and Fanny (Potter) Porteus. Tom graduated from Milford High School, and was an Army veteran. He married Lois Thompson on Nov. 1, 1958 in Oneonta.
ONEONTA – NYSEG is scheduled to perform emergency transformer repairs this afternoon on Market Street, shutting off power to the south side of Main Street from Grand Street to the Otsego County Office Building, and the entirety of South Main Street, according to a message sent by City Hall.
Accuweather issued this map early today on where and when it expects the ice storm to hit. Click on image for full size.
NYSEG is preparing for a wintry mix of rain, ice and some snow associated with incoming storms expected to hit Otsego County and other parts of its service areas tonight through Monday. As a result of the storm, customers may experience service disruptions.
In addition to Oneonta, the company expects impacts ranging from Liberty in the south,through the Capital Region, and north to Plattsburgh.
Two NYSEG crews have been at the Cooperstown Distillery all morning, increasing the power flow to the expanding manufacturing operation. “They’re giving us the amps we need,” said distillery proprietor Gene Marra. In the past few months, the distillery has expanded from one to four stills, which require heat to create a range of products from Glimmerglass Vodka to Beanball Bourbon. The distillery is planning expanded parking and adding a second floor of the building at Railroad and Leatherstocking to meet the demand. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
An OFD crew watches warily from in front of Oneonta’s Red Door Church after a gas line was breached at Roosevelt and Main this morning, causing 103 homes to be evacuated. (Michael Foster Rothbart for AllOTSEGO.com)City Manager George Korthauer and Mayor Gary Herzig confer with NYSEG inspectors at the the corner of Main and Roosevelt. Firefighters keep watch atop the EZ Mart.
ONEONTA – Neighbors in the vicinity of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, a half-block from Fox Hospital, are back in their homes after construction crews on the water-main replacement ruptured a primary natural gas line.
The 9:15 a.m. accident sent a plume of gas 100 feet into the air, according to eyewitness Michael Forster Rothbart. “I thought it was smoke,” he said. “It looked like the Red Door church was on fire.”
Oneonta Police and Fire Departments and NYSEG rushed to the scene, immediately shutting off the gas line, evacuating residents “two houses in” from Main Street” in a 10-block area, according to Mayor Gary Herzig.
EXHIBIT – 5-7 p.m. Opening reception for “Picture This: visualizing the written word and exploring the narrative.” On display thru 7/19. Free. The Smithy Gallery, 55 Pioneer St., Cooperstown.
PITTSFIELD – Sixty-six people in the Pittsfield/New Lisbon area are without power due do high winds that continue through 7 p.m.today, according to Rob O’Brien, Otsego County 911 director.
Tom Rathbone, SUNY Oneonta’s then-assistant vice president, gives a tour of the campus heating plant in 2016. (AllOTSEGO file photo)
ONEONTA – With the bitter cold, NYSEG has flagged some of the region’s largest employers to heat with oil instead of natural gas, driving up their heating costs.
“We have been burning oil since Tuesday evening,” SUNY Oneonta’ Chief Facilities Planning & Safety Officer Lachlan Squair said. “I’m fairly certain other places are doing the same.”
That would mean Fox Hospital and Lutz Feed in Oneonta, and Chenango Memorial Hospital in Norwich, who all have “interruptible power” contracts that require the shift during cold snaps.
ONEONTA – NYSEG’s Oneonta Division, which includes all of Otsego County, is one of five divisions the utility is monitoring closely with Storm Harper’s “significant snowfall and a wintry mix of precipitation” predicted to begin by 1 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday).
“Snow accumulation could bring tree limbs into contact with power lines or make for hazardous travel conditions,” NYSEG said in a press release. The other divisions extend from Brewster in the lower Hudson Valley to Plattsburgh, near the Canadian border.
State Police at Troop C are warning residents of a phone scam where the caller claims to be with NYSEG and threatens to cut off service.
Troopers have received several calls from businesspeople, who report callers demanding immediately payment using a prepaid debit card, or service will be cut.
Several households remain without power in Richfield Springs, where six inches of snow fell overnight. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
COOPERSTOWN – 63 households in Pittsfield and 103 across the county are without power following last night’s snowstorm, according to NYSEG.
Six inches of snow fell in the Richfield Springs area, with temperatures currently around 32 degrees. In Jordanville, all 38 NYSEG customers are without power. In Cooperstown, five households remain without power, and in Springfield Center, 10 homes.
BINGHAMTON – NYSEG, the utility serving Otsego County, is preparing for high winds and rain across the region Friday afternoon and into the evening. Customers may experience service disruptions, the utility reported.
