Clarkstown Directing Residents to Congers, Pascack Community Centers for Shelters

Clarkstown opened the Street School Community Center Sunday as a temporary shelter due to Saturday's storm and the severe power outages in the area, but had to move from that location when part of the building lost power and heat.

Clarkstown officials are now directing residents to shelters at the Congers Community Center and the Pascack Community Center. More details to follow.

At 7 p.m., Rockland County opened a countywide shelter at the Rockland Community College Fieldhouse, 145 College Road, Ramapo.

Check back with Patch for details.

Orange & Rockland is reporting 27,219 customers without power in Rockland County, including 8,248 in Clarkstown, on its storm tracker. There are also 6,566 customers in Orangetown who do not have power.

Here's the latest update from O&R:

Sunday’s early fall snowstorm wreaked havoc to the O&R electric system, knocking out power to more than 84,000 customers and putting the company in a Storm Emergency.

As of 2 p.m. today, approximately 18,000 customers were restored to service.

Damage caused by toppled trees and downed wires is widespread and extensive. As a result, O&R  is keeping its focus on damage assessment, making wire-down conditions safe and responding to municipal requests to open roadways for public safety.

Until a full damage assessment is completed, O&R will not be providing estimated restoration times to customers. Repair work on the system is expected to continue through most of the week. O&R broke that news to local and county officials on a conference call this afternoon.

Local contractors are supplementing O&R crews in an effort to expedite service restoration. Mutual aid crews from as far away as Florida are arriving tomorrow.
As of 2 p.m. today, there were approximately 43, 868 customers without power in New York, as follows:
    •    Rockland County: 27,214
    •    Orange County:    15,668
    •    Sullivan County:         986

In New Jersey, a total of 22,309 customers are without power, as follows:
    •    Bergen County:    14,940
    •    Passaic County:      7,293
    •    Sussex:                           76

In Pike County, Pennsylvania, there are 50 customers without power.

To assist the O&R in making quicker assessments of system damage and to help speed up restoration, customers are encouraged to call the company’s toll-free number, 1-877-434-4100, to report only downed wires and trees on wires. Other customers are encouraged to go online at www.oru.com or use their mobile Web to report a power outage.

For your safety, O&R says don’t touch or approach any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately at 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.

Shelter available

Town of Stony Point has opened up a temporary shelter at the Rho Cottage (Senior Center) off Patriot Hills Drive in Stony Point. For information, call the Stony Point police at 845-786-2744.

In Nyack, if your power is down at home, and you feel you are in any danger and need a place to stay, the village advising calling Jen White at 914-282-3068 or 845-353-4216 for assistance to make arrangements.

School closings

Because of the power outages, Clarkstown, Nanuet and Nyack public schools are closed on Monday, along with North Rockland schools.

Traffic lights out

Although main roads are open and clear today, power outages have knocked out many key traffic lights. Signals in the area of the Palisades Center mall on Route 303 and at the New York State Thruway Exit 12 northbound ramps are not working.

Police urge motorists to use extreme caution in areas where traffic signals are not working, and they urge drivers not to go around barriers that have been set up to block off local roads because of down trees or wires.