Watertown, N.Y. -- More than 15,000 customers are still without power in the North Country Thursday almost two days after high wind speeds caused significant damage to power lines.
More than 10,400 customers in Jefferson County were without power and another 4,500 in St. Lawrence County had no electricity as of 10:45 a.m. Thursday.
The Jefferson County New York Fire & Emergency Management has set up warming centers (A list can be found on its Facebook page).
The county also worked with the American Red Cross to open an emergency overnight shelter at Jefferson Community College East Hall residential building at 775 Rand Drive in Watertown.
National Grid is supplying dry ice for refrigeration and water (Pick up locations are listed on its Facebook page.)
On Tuesday night, wind speeds were as high as 79 mph in some areas, including the village of Dexter and Watertown, according to the National Weather Service. Category 1 hurricane wind speeds start at 74 mph.
A high wind watch has been issued in the same area until 4 a.m. Sunday, with wind gusts from 30 to 40 mph, according to the latest forecasts from the National Weather Service. Wind speed could get up to 60 mph from Friday to Saturday.
The weather forecast for the North Country also calls for heavy lake effect snow with 4 to 8 inches in the most persistent lake snows through Friday, the weather service shows.
As of 11 a.m. Thursday, the company has restored service to 182,800 of the more than 202,100 upstate New York customers affected by the storm, National Grid spokesperson Jared Paventi said. In Northern New York, 60,400 of the 76,100 affected customers have had power restored.
National Grid has been working to restore power to Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Lewis counties since early Wednesday morning, Paventi said. The company worked through rain and high winds with gusts of 45 mph to 57 mph Wednesday, he said.
The company has worked to repair transmission lines, National Grid’s distribution system and broken utility poles to restore power in the heavily wooded area, Paventi said Wednesday.
Customers without power in the areas of Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties are projected to have power restored by 11:30 p.m. tonight, according to the spokesperson.
“National Grid crews will do everything within their control to complete restoration as quickly as possible,” Paventi said.
Dry ice and bottled water locations
National Grid said it would be distributing dry ice and bottled water between 1 and 5 p.m. Thursday. (Additional times will be added if necessary, officials said. ) Customers are asked to bring a cooler or paper grocery bags to transport dry ice to their homes.
Jefferson County
- Adams Fire Dept.
- 6 N. Main St.
- Adams, NY 13605
- Watertown CitiBus garage
- 544 Newell St.
- Watertown, NY 13601
St. Lawrence County
- Hermon Fire Dept.
- 1650 County Route 21
- Hermon, NY 13652
- Star Lake Fire Dept.
- 4187 NYS Route 3
- Star Lake, NY 13690
Staff writer Darian Stevenson covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? You can reach her at dstevenson@syracuse.com