New York And Connecticut Call For Probes Into Utility Companies’ Response To Isaias

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Tropical Storm Isaias downed wires and uprooted trees, like this one in New York City, leaving millions of customers without power in parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Wednesday. The governors of Connecticut and New York have each declared a state of emergency and are calling for investigations into state utility companies’ response.

Lev Radin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

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Lev Radin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

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In Connecticut, Ned Lamont declared a state of emergency specifically in response to widespread power outages, which he said had impacted more than 700,000 customers.

He also called on the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to thoroughly investigate the state’s utility companies’ response to the storm in order to determine «whether the companies are meeting their legal obligations and whether any penalties need to be applied.

«Several years ago, Connecticut experienced large-scale outages that took days to recover from, and we were told that the utilities were improving their resources so that they can be prepared for the next time Mother Nature inevitably hits again, Lamont wrote in a series of tweets. «And now here we are, with a wholly inadequate response to another storm.

Eversource, New England’s largest energy provider, said in a statement that crews had restored power to about 100,000 Connecticut customers as of 10 a.m. Wednesday. The company anticipates it will take «multiple days to restore all of the state’s outages.

«The impact from this storm, in terms of power outages, is greater than Superstorm Sandy, said Michael Hayhurst, Eversource vice president of electric operations in Connecticut. «The fierce winds with this storm caused widespread power outages and historic damage, affecting customers in all of the 149 communities we serve in Connecticut.

The company added that crews are working around-the-clock shifts and operating under a COVID-19 plan with sanitation and social distancing protocols.

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Officials across the country are grappling with the combined threat of an above-average hurricane season and a public health crisis. Florida paused coronavirus testing due to Isaias, and shelters are modifying operations to account for social distancing.

Isaias plowed up the East Coast after making landfall as a hurricane on Monday night, generating flash floods and tornadoes along the way. Its heavy winds downed trees and branches on top of power lines, leaving 6.4 million customers without power from South Carolina to Maine.

The New York metropolitan area suffered particularly widespread power outages, with 1.4 million of those in New Jersey.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on Wednesday afternoon that the state was down to approximately 840,000 outages, and is «pressing all the major utilities to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.

As of Wednesday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us, 2.8 million electric customers in parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast remain in the dark.