Utility crews work to restore power; some Adirondack towns facing long cleanup
By Mike Goodwin, H. Rose Schneider, Times Union and Explorer staff
Updated July 18, 2024 9:20 a.m.
National Grid customers in Warren and Hamilton counties began regaining electricity the past day as thousands remained without power, according to company and public official information.
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Hundreds of business and residenial customers in Warrensburg, Chester, Bolton and Indian Lake continued to lack electricity and the National Weather Service declared a tornado touched down in Chester. It may have spun into Bolton, a Warren County official said. Water distribution stations were planned Thursday in Speculator and Warrensburg.
Gore Mountain lost power but state officials believe it will be returned today and said that the downhill ski facility was spared damage. Route 28 in Chester remained closed but was expected to be reopen Thursday night.
As crews labored to restore power to thousands of people who lost utility service when thunderstorms hammered upstate Tuesday, meteorologists watched the radar for signs another string of storms could do damage Wednesday. This storm comes just days after Tropical Storm Beryl swept through the region.
Thousands of Adirondack Park residents and businesses without power in Hamilton and Warren counties may wait several days for electricity to be restored after downed wires and damaged infrastructure is repaired, according to public officials. Some have been warned the wait could be a week for power.
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Warren County announced a state of emergency to allow for expedited procurement and repairs, an official said.
Johnsburg Supervisor Kevin M. Bean said Warren County was one of the worst hit areas by the storms of Tuesday.
“If anyone knows of a neighbor who has a significant health issue please let me now,” he said on the North Creek Bulletin Board of Facebook. “If anyone is on oxygen and needs a generator please let me know.” He said National Grid told him that it has 2,800 workers in the field trying to restore power.
A severe thunderstorm warning was in effect Wednesday afternoon for parts of Saratoga, Schenectady, Albany and Rensselaer counties. Radar showed a storm tracking east, and Saratoga Race Course’s first race of the day was canceled due to weather.
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The chaotic weather, which unleashed two suspected tornadoes, was blamed for killing a person in Madison County.
Utility crews spread across a huge swath of upstate that spanned New York’s Capital Region, the Southern Tier, Hudson Valley, Adirondack Mountains and central New York. Tens of thousands of upstate homes and businesses lost power in the storms and utility companies were dealing with outages caused by the collapse of countless trees and limbs that dragged down electric, phone and cable wires.
Widespread outages persisted across eastern and central upstate with nearly half of the utility customers in Hamilton County without power Wednesday morning.
Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency on Tuesday. State agencies monitored the storm and were assembled to assist with storm cleanup.
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The storms brought a brief respite from the heat and humidity that have gripped the Northeast for days but the National Weather Service in Albany said more hot and muggy weather could potentially lead to another round of severe thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon and evening. Much of the Albany area and Hudson Valley are under another heat advisory.
The storms arrived Tuesday afternoon and evening, causing extensive damage in Rome and other communities along the Mohawk River. The weather service says a tornado hit the Cortland County town of Virgil and suspected a tornado was to blame in Rome. Syracuse.com reported a person was found dead after the storms ripped through Canastota, a village in Madison County. One person was injured when a tree fell on them in the Herkimer County town of Salisbury, National Weather Service meteorologist Abbey Gant said. Hinckley Reservoir access in Herkimer County is temporarily closed.
The Capital Region and the Adirondack Mountains were hit hard. Storm damage in Glens Falls prompted the declaration of a state of emergency and, in neighboring Queensbury, a video posted on social media showed sparking wires on the ground and behind cars at a local Kia dealership. A power pole outside the business remained askew with one of its wires hanging down.
The storm also battered Edinburg and other communities around the Great Sacandaga Lake. The normally quiet town was a buzzing with activity — literally — notably with tree-cutting, but also with rumbling utility trucks, firefighting and Saratoga County vehicles moving along rural roads, people on golf carts and utility vehicles inspecting the damage. Many roads remained closed Wednesday morning.
The wind brought down trees around the region. Countless power lines were down and road closures were widespread including Warren Street in Glens Falls where city police said power lines were down.
The severe storm is a familiar scenario. Nearly 29 years ago to the day, the North Country was rocked by the Ontario-Adirondacks Derecho, a widespread wind-storm that tossed trees the size of tractor trailers around like toothpicks with 100 mph winds and killed five people.
The aftermath of Tuesday’s powerful thunderstorms are illustrated Wednesday by the downed trees that damaged homes in the Ponderosa Pines mobile home park in Edinburg. No one was injured.
Tim Blydenburgh / Times Union
Warren County hit hard
“This is the closest I’ve seen to that in 30-ish years,” Warren County spokesman Don Lehman said Wednesday. He said Route 28 had been reopened with at least one lane cleared for traffic after major obstructions at The Glen where Johnsburg and Warrensburg meet near the Hudson River. He said the county would declare a state of emergency, even though Hochul had announced the broader state of emergency, to cover any potential additional emergency needs.
The storm damage is widespread in the county. Power outages are expected to last for days, Lehman said. The biggest hindrance is the downed, live wires tangled in fallen trees that have blocked roads and damaged buildings.
“Until those lines are made safe, the [Department of Public Workres] crews aren’t going to go into there,” Lehman said.
Lehman said a list of cooling centers is available on New York State’s website. He advised calling ahead to ensure the locations have power.
On Wednesday, National Grid reported that 80,000 customers remained without power across the Capital Region, central New York and the Adirondacks. At 6:45 a.m., the utility reported 53,416 customers were without service in the Capital Region. Locally, Montgomery and Warren counties were hit particularly hard with nearly 6,000 people in the dark Montgomery County and another 16,000 without service in Warren County.
National Grid was still working on determining restoration times Wednesday, but the harder hit areas would likely see multi-day outages, spokesman Patrick Stella said. Downed trees and poles, as well as more severe weather Wednesday, could complicate power restoration.
New York State Electric & Gas faced thousands of power outages too. Most were concentrated in central New York and the Southern Tier, but thousands of customers in Columbia and Rensselaer counties lost service too.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced the temporary closure of Million Dollar Beach in Lake George, due to elevated levels of bacteria Escherichia coli, or E. coli, found in water sampling at the beach. The beach will remain closed to all patrons until testing results indicate improved water quality. State-run campsites on the Lake George Islands are also damaged and closed.
The weather service said it received reports of wind damage and one wind gust measured at 87 mph in Glens Falls by New York State Mesonet as the storm moved east. That’s fast enough to rip roofs off buildings, Gant said. Throughout the region, wind speeds ranged from 30 to 60 miles per hour. The weather service cautioned residents to “move to a safe interior place” as the storms approached.
Essex County road closures
As of Tuesday evening, the following roads were closed in Essex County:
- Ledge Hill Road in Westport
- Hesseltine Road in Jay
- Decker Road in Westport
- NYS Route 9 in Elizabethtown/Westport
- NYS Route 22 in Westport
- County Route 8 in Elizabethtown/Westport
- Lincoln Pond Road in Moriah/Elizabethtown
Tim Blydenburgh and Wendy Liberatore contributed reporting to this article from the Times Union. From Adirondack Explorer, Melissa Hart and James M. Odato contributed to this report.
Photo at top: Trees landed on multiple houses, including this one, on Crownwood Lane in Queensbury on Tuesday. Photo provided by Warren County
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