Storms knock out power to 12,000 in Onondaga County

Strong winds and thunderstorms left about 10,247 National Grid customers in Onondaga County without power shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, as more than 12,500 people lost electricity across Onondaga and Oswego counties while the storm line moved through Central New York. Trees and wires came down across the region, and police and sheriff’s deputies were sent to multiple reports of blocked roads.

The outages stretched across a county already covered by severe thunderstorm warnings, with downed wires reported in several neighborhoods and roadways obstructed by fallen trees. National Grid said its outage map is updated every five minutes and directs customers to call 1-800-867-5222 to report outages or downed power lines. The company says any downed line should always be treated as live and dangerous.

Onondaga County residents also have emergency information available through the county’s emergency management website, which links to weather-advisory updates, National Weather Service storm-warning definitions and NY-Alert resources. The National Weather Service says severe thunderstorms in New York can produce damaging winds, large hail, tornadoes and flash flooding, with the region’s most active severe-weather season typically running from June through August.

Onondaga County is served in part by both National Grid and NYSEG, which says it provides electricity service to 8,133 customers in the county. The mix of utility territories and overhead lines has made wind events especially disruptive in parts of the county, where falling trees and snapped limbs can quickly turn neighborhood streets into hazard zones.

The Friday night storm also revived memories of earlier wind damage in Onondaga County, including a July 13, 2022 event that brought down trees and wires in the western section of the county. For local utilities and governments, repeated outages of this scale raise the same questions each time a storm front rolls through: whether tree trimming, line maintenance and storm preparation are keeping pace with the area’s exposed infrastructure, and how quickly crews can clear roads and restore service once winds ease.