PSEG Long Island: All customers have power restored

PSEG Long Island reported Saturday night that power had been restored for all customers who lost electricity as a result of Wednesday’s snowstorm.

More than 91,700 customers lost power during Wednesday’s storm, which blanketed the region with wet, heavy snow that knocked down trees and limbs, and took down power lines and utility poles.

The final days of a restoration effort can be the most difficult, with complex work conditions requiring extra time to restore power to fewer and fewer customers. The so-called singles can be “more labor intensive,” spokeswoman Brooke Houston said.

Some repairs were temporary, and “we have a fair amount of work ahead of us to make all repairs permanent,” the utility said Saturday.

One problem with getting crews from local utilities, including PSEG sister company PSE&G of New Jersey, is that many regional utilities are working overtime to restore their own sizable power outages.

Wednesday’s nor’easter was the second large storm PSEG responded to in under a week’s time. Another nor’easter bearing strong winds and rain knocked out power March 2 to more than 128,000 Long Island customers. All power had been restored from the first nor’easter by the time the second one hit, Houston said.

The utility has had 1,600 people in the field — from PSEG and from contractors — on restoration and recovery in the two storms, PSEG said.

As PSEG was restoring power Saturday to the final customers who lost electricity during the storm, Long Islanders were continuing to clean up from the damage. Many streets were still littered with downed branches and trees, with some leaning against partially toppled fences.

John Zaccari, 65, of Roslyn Heights, was sawing parts of a chestnut tree that nearly fell on his house Wednesday, intending to use it for firewood.

Zaccari’s front lawn was filled with bark and branches from the 30-foot tree.

“It’s sad,” he said. “My [late] father planted this in the 1970s. He was Italian. He loved chestnuts.”

But Zaccari feels lucky. The tree, which when it fell “sounded like a small kind of explosion,” crashed onto his driveway just minutes after he had moved his car inside the garage.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.com,david.olson@newsday.comMHarringtonNews,

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.