Some hard-hit NY areas disappear from outage map

Utility linemen based in St. Louis, Mo., who traveled to the East Coast to assist in repairs from superstorm Sandy trim trees entangled in power lines on November 3, 2012 in Bethpage, N.Y. / Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Last UPdated 5:48 p.m. ET

NEW YORK The Long Island Power Authority has removed some areas of Long Island and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens from its map of power outages caused by superstorm Sandy, saying homes there are too damaged to receive electric service, CBS Station WCBS reports.

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The Rockaways sustained severe damage and flooding from the storm. One neighborhood, Breezy Point, was also struck by a fire that destroyed 111 homes.

Yet on LIPA's website the number of customers in Rockaway affected by power outages is listed as zero. There are about 193,000 customers in Nassau and Suffolk Counties still without power.

"Impacted customers in the areas of the Rockaway Peninsula, Long Beach, Atlantic Beach, and Fire Island are no longer reflected on the outage map or in the total number of outages shown," LIPA said on its website. "Many homes and businesses in these areas are currently unable to accept electric service due to severe damage caused by the recent storm.

"These communities remain a top restoration priority for LIPA and we continue to work aggressively to restore service safely and quickly." The utility said it was working with local authorities to provide power to street and traffic lights, and to identify homes and businesses that could safely receive electric service.

Yet the utility says it is on track to restore power to 90 percent of its customers by Wednesday.

• Con Edison outage map - Customers without power (as of Tuesday a.m.): NYC, 69,832; Westchester County, 49,718.
• NYSEG outage map - Customers without power (as of Tuesday a.m.): 10,969.
• National Grid outage map - Customers without power (as of Tuesday a.m.): 291.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed the state's utility companies Monday for what he called their poor performance in restoring power and their failure to communicate with consumers.

At a late afternoon news conference Cuomo said that power had been restored to all but 480,000 New Yorkers, down from 2.1 million affected by the storm. But he added that, a week after the deadly storm made landfall, such slow progress was "unacceptable," and that utilities will be "held accountable for their lack of performance," CBS Station WCBS reports.

"To say that I am angry, to say that I am frustrated, disappointed, would be the understatement of the decade," Cuomo said.

Roxanne Boothe (right), president of the tenants association at Sam Burt Houses, uses a flashlight as she walks a hallway checking residents on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012 in Coney Island, N.Y. The complex flooded during superstorm Sandy and a 90-year-old woman who had lived there for more than 40 years drowned on the first floor. "We have no heat, no water, no electricity, it's dark in the whole building," said Boothe.

/ AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

Con Edison has restored power to almost all Manhattan customers who were without power by Friday evening. But Cuomo said that there is more to Con Ed's service area than just Manhattan, and accused the utility of blowing other areas off.

"You want to celebrate what Con Ed did in Manhattan; I'm going to complain about what Con Ed hasn't done in Westchester and hasn't done in the outer boroughs," Cuomo said. "I'm not happy with National Grid. I'm not happy with Orange and Rockland."

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When asked what kind of recourse he had against the power companies, Cuomo reminded a reporter that they are regulated by a government authority, the Public Service Commission.

"The utilities were not created in the Bible. They're not in the Old Testament. They're not in the New Testament. God never said, 'New York shall have these utilities forever, and Con Ed is the utility, and there's nothing you can do about it.' It's really not in the Bible," the governor said.

Cuomo said he wants to give the utilities a chance to "make their side of the case," but added he believes the service was "inadequate."

"The state's remedies go from sanctions to revocation of franchise," he said.

Cuomo said part of Con Ed's responsibility as a monopoly is to respond to crises and remain communicative with the public. The utility, Cuomo said, failed in that mission.

"If your plan was, 'Well, they contact me on the web' - if your power is out in your apartment, how are they going to contact you on the web? That's the plan?" he said.

UPDATE: On Tuesday afternoon the LIPA outage map for the Rockaway peninsula was temporarily changed, from 0 to 500. A press release also said that the utility is prioritizing work on the Peninsula, and that the number of LIPA personnel working to restore power in the Rockways will increase "as feasible." As of 5:45 p.m., the number was back to 0.

[gloribri]

I have called con edison about a partial outage. To which they responded my 74 year old mother will have electric and heat by the 9th. There are only 3 houses in her community with the same problem. Well today, they do not have any lights, heat or way of keeping their food. I called Con Edison again to which they responded that there are only 27 homes in that area without electric. To them 27 is ONLY. To me it is the health of my parent, my son that lives and works in NYC and a tenant that threatens not to pay the rent when my mother depends on that income. Con Edison's management of handling emergencies and slow response is totally irresponsible and unacceptable. How are government officials going to handle this?

[presclayiii]

wow no power in a storm is insult to injury praying for new yorkers tonight god pleas bless them k America is watching you con ed.

[mari1963]

sounds like Con Ed doesn't care about people all they care about is their money. Maybe the Mayor should make sure they don't get paid until the power is restored! And no overtime pay! That might get their butts moving faster!

[Bmcloninger]

We were without electricity for a week when Hugo came through our small southern town in 1989 and we were the lucky ones! Many went without for 2 - 3 weeks. The line workers who hooked us up early were sincerely concerned about our welfare. They stopped to ask if we were okay. I will never forget their generosity.

[GrovesGal]

"all but 480,000 New Yorkers, down from 2.1 million"....this man is an IDIOT. People have come from all over the country to help. If he thinks it's so easy, maybe he needs to get up there and take a lesson in fixing something himself. It's a HECK of a lot easier being a stupid governor with a big mouth that putting your life on the line working with electricity.

[Weazerdogg]

You cash the paycheck, you accept the danger. Don't want to do it, get another job.

[jgnv]

"When asked what kind of recourse he had against the power companies, Cuomo reminded a reporter that they are regulated by a government authority, the Public Service Commission"

Although I reside in the Western region of the US, I was just told by an employee at my local CVS pharmacy that she personally knew electricians from her home state of Alabama who traveled to NY to assist in the restoration of electrical service and were turned away because they were not union electricians. If what she told me is true, it is shameful.

[chevyhotrod]

Is is very true, CBS would never report such a thing though, they are all on the same page politically speaking.

[unclec18017]

Cuomo says such slow progress to restore power was "unacceptable," and that utilities will be "held accountable for their lack of performance"... Why doesn't he for just 1 day, join a utility crew and see how difficult this work is. Then he might appreciate the backbreaking and dangerous work these utlity workers are doing, instead of just critcizing, when he doesn't even know what he's talking about!

I dare him to join a crew tomorrow for a 10 or 12 hour shift. Then let's see what Cuomo has to say.

[endrepubs]

I agree with your comment. It is always easy to sit back in your Italian leather chair and criticize others. Utility work is hard, dangerous work and you can't just wave a magic wand and be done with it. There is major infrastructure damage and this isn't going to happen in a week or two.

[mollydtt]

Years ago, we had an ice storm in the city where I live in Texas. Power was out to over 100,000. Utilities were restored to neighborhoods with the greatest numbers first, then house by house, by house....
There were houses a week later that had just gotten electricity service back, due to large trees and tricky wiring.
It is very hard work and you can't take safety shortcuts.

[Colt4542]

A wise man once said "Don't criticize a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes." or something to that effect. Cuomo should shut up, put on a tool belt and start getting his hands dirty.

[Colt4542]

If you need electricity to survive, then purchase and maintain your own standby generator and fuel supply. I live in a rural area of FL and have two units ready to go at any time. Sometimes something as simple as a thunderstorm will take down the high line for a day or so. In the case of a hurricane, it's the rural areas (read that is minimal population) that get restored last. So to keep my food from spoiling and stumbling around in the dark, just fire up the generator. PS - I rotate as many as ten 5 gallon gas cans, using the older gas for the truck then refilling. Be a Boy Scout "Be Prepared" and take care of your self rather than depend on someone else. If I had it to do again I would use a propane generator and a very large storage tank. At least propane does not go bad with time.

[THALES457]

COLT, HOW MANY AMPS DO YOU HAVE? DO YOU HOOK IN ON THE LINE SIDE OR RUN CORDS OUT TO THE GENERATOR? ANY DIFFERENCE IN SERVICE LIFE BETWEEN UNITS WITH EITHER FUEL? HOW LARGE & HOW MANY ARE YOUR PROPANE TANKS? THANK YOU.

[ConstantineXIII]

People are suffering in New York and New Jersey and Obama is playing basketball. And people think this guy cares? The guy is still the President and he has basically abdicated his responsibilities as President since last Wednesday when he had the touchy feely hug with Chris Christie. It is quite clear he is just your average, typical politician who cares only about himself and that all he was interested in New Jersey was in getting the photo op with Chris Christie. It is also obvious Obama, Christie, Bloomberg, and Cuomo did a poor job preparing for the storm because no supplies of gas and food were stockpiled(even though there was about a week's advance notice of the storm) What a phony! Vote Romney/Ryan!

[Colt4542]

Yeah, soon as he got the media to lick his boots with Cristie he was off to the campaign trail again. What a piece of work. But what can you expect from someone raised and indoctrinated in Chicago politics.

[klilly]

This entire post is so far off the map of reality, it's laughable. What do you expect him to do except make the visits and get the relief in that state officials ask for. As for stockpiling supplies, now you know why it is so difficult for Southern state that experience hurricanes to get stuff done. You can on store so much supplies. Even if you had the supplies, you would still have to wait for the roads to be cleared in order for supplies to get to you. Obama playing basketball for a few hours on election day is not going to speed up or slow down your recovery when he has already visited your area and gave the Governors everything they said they needed.