Orange and Rockland Utilities mobilizes storm crews ahead of severe weather

Orange and Rockland Utilities moved into storm-response mode with crews in Pearl River as isolated severe thunderstorms and strong winds threatened Orange County’s electric service. The utility said sustained winds of 15 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph, could be enough to bring down trees and limbs, especially where soil is already saturated.

For Newburgh, Middletown, Goshen and Monroe, the concern was not just the weather itself but what it could do to power lines, traffic signals and homes that depend on steady electricity. O&R said the forecast posed a significant threat to service because high winds, wet ground and falling trees can combine into the kind of setup that leads to scattered outages and slower restoration work.

To brace for that, the company said it would mobilize its emergency response workforce and had 100 mutual aid workers standing by. That is a bigger readiness push than the one O&R announced on June 12, when it said 50 mutual aid workers were secured for another storm watch. The larger backup number signaled that the June 18 system was being treated as the more disruptive event.

O&R said its response would include overhead line crews, tree removal experts, customer service operators and the rest of its emergency team. Under its storm recovery plan, the utility can also send its Community Response Team to municipal offices in severely affected communities, giving local officials and customers direct help if damage is widespread. The company said the news media are kept updated on damage reports, restoration progress and safety advisories as the response unfolds.

The June 18 mobilization came after O&R said in May that it had invested $315 million in grid improvements heading into summer heat and storm season. That spending backdrop matters for Orange County because it shows the utility has been trying to strengthen the system before the most damaging weather arrives, not just after outages begin.

Residents across O&R’s Orange County service area can also use the utility’s outage map and outage-reporting options if service fails. With crews already staged in Pearl River and additional workers on standby, the next few hours were set up to determine whether the county would get through the storm with only brief interruptions or a longer repair effort stretching into the evening.