Crews trying to restore power in New York area; Storm knocks reservoir offline

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - New York utility crews were working to restore power to thousands of residents in Westchester County, Long Island and parts of New York City on Sunday in the wake of Ernesto.

The storm knocked out power at a reservoir in Westchester County, and residents of Yonkers were advised to boil water for two minutes for drinking or cooking.

Consolidated Edison was at the Hillview Reservoir working to fix the outage. When pressure returns, water is likely to be muddy or rusty, said Westchester County Department of Health spokeswoman Mary Landrigan. She suggested running water until it looks clear.

Con Edison reported that about 40,000 customers, or an estimated 160,000 people, remained without power Sunday, with most of those outages scattered throughout Westchester County. Areas of Staten Island and the Bronx were also affected. About 360,000 people 90,000 customers lost power at some point during the storm.

A customer can include an entire household or building.

The Long Island Power Authority said about 4,400 customers, or about 12,700 people, were without service throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties the afternoon of September 3. LIPA said 127,799 customers, or about 300,000 people, were affected during the storm.

Both companies said they had employees working around the clock to restore service, and Con Edison said crews from Albany and Rhode Island had joined the effort.

The rainy weather put a kink in Labor Day weekend plans. Coney Island was nearly deserted September 3, despite sunny conditions, which disappointed business owners eager for a last chance at big sales. Playland Amusement Park in Rye was closed due to a power outage in the area.

While Sunday's weather was sunny and calm, the National Weather Service reported as much as 3 inches of rain on Long Island on Saturday; the New York metro area received about an inch of rain. Winds reached more than 50 miles per hour in some areas.

The weather caused erosion at some coastal areas. Waves up to 12 feet high sucked away pieces of shoreline, turning some usually flat, sandy stretches into miniature bluffs up to 4 feet high. Some of the damaged beach areas may need to be repaired with bulldozers, authorities said.

Ernesto has been blamed for at least five deaths since it first came ashore in North Carolina as a tropical storm.