April snow impact in and around Capital Region
Tuesday's unseasonable weather had one state agency in particular with its hands full. Even though the snow that fell is not considered "severe weather," the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services are was keeping an eye on power outages and distributing help to New Yorkers.
CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Tuesday's unseasonable weather had one state agency in particular with its hands full. Even though the snow that fell is not considered "severe weather," the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services are was keeping an eye on power outages and distributing help to New Yorkers.
“We’ve got about 195,000 households without power right now," NYS DHSES Commissioner Jackie Bray explained to NEWS10 Tuesday afternoon.
Bray gave NEWS10 ABC's Giuliana Bruno an inside look at how the Emergency Operations Center monitors weather impacts.
“We stand up our Emergency Operations Center whenever there’s an event. We stood up this morning because of the snow," Bray said.
Touch screen monitors in the EOC were illuminated with a snow accumulation map, social media feeds, and a power outage map.
“We’ve got the most power out in Broome [County], but we’ve got power out in Cayuga, in Herkimer, in Hamilton, [and] in Warren,” Bray said.
National Grid crews could be seen driving through Lake George where a number of customers were still without power Tuesday afternoon.
In Fulton County, a Mayfield resident on Progress road saw trees and a power line down. They sent NEWS10 pictures of tree debris blocking roadways.
This April snow, while not the most impressive in accumulation or winds, still packed a punch.
"Because of the time of year, because it’s heavier, it brought more trees down," Bray explained, "and it brought more powerlines down.”
National Grid's Upstate NY Power Outage Map has the latest estimated restoration times for outages in the area.