Orleans hardest hit by storm in NY

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 December 2013 at 2:49 pm

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Ice encases these berries on the bush in front of Mike and Cheryl Wertman’s home in Medina.

The ice storm has caused power outages in western, central and northern New York, but no county has been hit as hard as Orleans.

There are 8,590 National Grid customers without power in Orleans. That represents 47.3 percent of National Grid’s customer base in the county.

Two other counties – Niagara and Jefferson – have more customers without power, but their percentage of the county without electricity isn’t as high as in Orleans.

Jefferson County in the North Country has 22,379 customers without power, or 40.6 percent of the county, according to a National Grid report at 1:55 p.m.

Niagara has 14,104 customers without power, or 17.4 percent of the 81,097 total.

Other nearby counties haven’t been hit nearly as hard as Orleans with power outages. Genesee has 1,657 customers without electricity, or 6.2 percent of the 26,584 in the county. National Grid has power out for 5.4 percent or 1,094 of its 20,205 customers in Monroe County.

Erie County has 1.5 percent of its National Grid customers without power, or 4,226 of the 279,517 total.