A springtime winter storm that affected much of Upstate New York and Pennsylvania prompted school closings, hazardous road conditions, and left many without power for days. On Thursday, April 21, three days after the storm, residents that had been without power for days were beginning to see their electricity restored.
On April 18, the National Weather Service placed most of the Southern Tier under a Winter Weather Advisory or Warning. Tompkins, Cortland, Tioga, and Broome were all under a Winter Weather Warning as of 6 p.m. on Monday.
By 9 a.m. on April 19, over a dozen schools in the region announced they would be closed or delayed by two hours after a system of heavy and wet snow blanketed much of the region overnight.
The warning ended at noon on Tuesday, but many were left without power. The already saturated ground made things worse the evening of April 19 when winds picked up and trees began splitting and coming down. This further affected power outages and restoration efforts.
On April 20 and 21, NYSEG customers were able to pick up dry ice and water at the Public Safety Building Parking lot in Owego, and at the Campville Fire Station. NYSEG customers were also able to pick up dry ice the evening of April 19 at the Public Safety Building. On April 19, the Berkshire Fire Station opened up as a warming center.
In a press release posted by NYSEG on Thursday, they anticipated that 95% of the power would be restored by Friday. They also wrote, “Tuesday’s storm caused severe damage to the company’s electrical system, causing more than 1,290 downed wires in the company’s Binghamton division, along with more than 90 broken poles. The company has more than 2,800 field resources engaged in restoration efforts across the state and continues to add additional resources.”
They also noted that the company’s Binghamton division includes Broome, Chenango and Tioga counties.
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