LIPA: 'We are prepared' to handle Hurricane Earl

Bracing for a possible 100,000 or more electrical outages from Hurricane Earl's outlying winds and rain, the Long Island Power Authority has brought in hundreds of line crews and tree trimmers from out of state to back up its local workers.

By late afternoon Thursday, utility trucks from as far away as Michigan were gathered at a staging area in Roslyn, said LIPA chief executive Kevin Law.

"We are prepared for what is forecasted," Law said at a news conference at the staging area in Christopher Morley Park. "We will be able to hit the ground running."

The authority also was moving equipment such as utility poles, transformers and wires to the East End, which is expected to be the Island region most affected by Earl, to quickly repair any damaged equipment.

Law said he made the decision to bring in the outside crews Tuesday, based on predictions that Long Island will be "significantly impacted" by Earl. He said LIPA is prepared to handle up to 100,000 outages without outside support, but the consequences from this storm threaten to top that.

About 1,300 line crews and 375 tree trimmers will join about 500 line workers and 175 tree-trim crews that National Grid has in-house to deal with the storm and its effects, he said.

Law said the crews will first undergo safety checks and then be briefed on LIPA's system and safety procedures. Then they were to spend the night at hotels across the Island and prepare to work 16-hour shifts beginning Friday.

"We still hope Earl goes east and avoids us, but we needed to be prepared," Law said.

Law, who officially leaves the authority Monday, cut short a previously scheduled vacation in Montauk to be on hand as the storm nears, the authority said.

LIPA recently changed its bylaws so that newly named chief operating officer Mike Hervey, LIPA's point man for storms, can take on the chief executive role, including when Law leaves. Law has been participating in storm preparedness conference calls and decisions from Montauk all week, a LIPA spokeswoman said.

LIPA, criticized for communications failures after a March nor'easter, already has begun using a new outbound call service to critical-care customers, with information and advice about the coming storm. About 4,700 customers, who are given priority for outage restoration during storms because of a potentially life-threatening need for electricity, received the calls Tuesday. About 1,200 additional customers signed up for the program after LIPA's last big outage in March.

LIPA spokeswoman Vanessa Baird-Streeter said a new outage-reporting website is up and running, able to alert affected customers of problems and expected repair times. If there is an outage, LIPA customers now can receive outbound messages about the progress of repairs and expected fix times by phone.

With Mark Harrington