LIPA Claims: 99 Percent To Be Restored By Tuesday

Ninety-nine percent of LIPA customers who are able receive power will have their electricity restored by the end of the day Tuesday, the president of National Grid’s Long Island electric group said at an afternoon news conference today.

In addition, John Bruckner said, all Suffolk County residents who live within a flood zone, but who did not sustain water damage, will have their power restored Saturday night.

In Nassau, he said, there are 38,000 customers within flood zones that need to be restored, although he did not have details on how many would need electrical inspections before getting power restored.

In total, officials said power has been restored to 93 percent of Long Island customers.

“We are just about wrapped up,” Bruckner said.

Bruckner and LIPA chief operating officer Michael Hervey also defended their company’s response to the storm, including their communication with the public.

“We are an open book,” Hervey said. “We communicate openly at all times.”

At its height, superstorm Sandy knocked out power to more than 945,000 customers, some 700,000 of which had been restored before the nor’easter arrived Wednesday. Tens of thousands of additional customers lost power after that storm battered LI into Thursday. About 130,000 customers remained without power Saturday afternoon, according to LIPA’s website.

LIPA said some 1,200 new line workers and tree trimmers were due in the area Friday, bolstering a total workforce of more than 12,000. LIPA on Thursday also added back to its outage list about 60,000 customers in the Rockaways and Long Beach who had been removed because devastation there had been so widespread that many weren’t able to receive power.

But the numbers were little solace to the tens of thousands who remain in dark, freezing homes, primarily along the South Shore, or who have been displaced because lack of power has driven them out.

Read more at NEWSDAY.

{Matzav.com Newscenter}