Brutally cold weather coupled with strong, gusty winds wreaked havoc on Orange County last night into early this morning. First responders and Central Hudson crews responded to countless emergency calls for building fires, electrical wires down, and even brush fires.
At 3:31pm yesterday – Friday, February 3, 2023, Montgomery Airport recorded a wind gust of 52 mph. Stewart Field Airport in Newburgh reached 48 mph at 12:45pm. A mesonet stationed atop Mount Beacon logged a 45.7 mph gust at 4:20pm.
For several hours overnight, the temperature hovered around 0°F before bottoming out at -2.2°F at 6:51am, as recorded at Vail’s Gate Tower, a weather tower operated by The Newburgh News, LLC. Winds gusted to 20-25 mph overnight, creating wind chills exceeding -20°F, before diminishing by daybreak.
Mount Washington in New Hampshire made national news as the wind chill dropped to -108°F, which likely broke an all-time record in the United States. A top wind gust of 127 mph was recorded with the actual air temperature plunging to -47.1°F.
Firefighters in Chester rushed to the scene of a dangerous condition at 8:00pm last night. Electrical wires came down on a vehicle on Gibson Hill Road. A second car then drove over the power lines and caught fire.
The Salisbury Mills Fire Department responded to two weather-related calls at once early yesterday evening. Wires came down on Ash Avenue and a brush fire ignited in the area of Otterkill Road and Taylor Road. The brush fire burned a 1,600 square foot area with electrical wires involved.
Around the same time, Cornwall firefighters responded to a tree down on electrical lines on Ridge Road. Orange Lake firefighters handled electrical wires down on Rock Cut Road.
Last night, multiple fire departments across western Orange County converged on a major incident on Milburn Road in in the Village of Florida. A barn caught fire, the wind swept the fire to an additional barn, and a nearby house was exposed. The building fires then spread and lit brush on fire. The incident went to a third alarm equivalent as firefighters worked through harsh conditions well into the overnight.
Over 3,000 Central Hudson customers were reported to be without power late last night as trees toppled onto power lines. This left many customers with no way to heat their homes amid dangerously cold weather.
Central Hudson customers praised the work of the ground crews who worked in the brutal weather, but once again slammed the embattled utility company for “terrible” service. Among the complaints were a lack of crews working and poor status reports.
“Thanks for nothing with status reports,” customer Mike Weipert exclaimed to Central Hudson on their social media page. “Almost 24 hours (of) no power in Kerhonkson and no info whatsoever. Don’t even dare jacking up my bill in the future!”
Dissatisfied customer Jason Wrench observed, “From the looks of things on their map, there are only two crews working and they’re on the other side of the river. They knew this was coming and they seem to have been caught ill equipped…again.”
In Highland, customer Melissa Surprise said she was without power for 15 hours with “no signs of Central Hudson life and no status update.”
Customer Annette Jones also scolded Central Hudson. “People have been without power for over 24 hours. I said it yesterday … that Central Hudson was again not prepared for this weather, just like they weren’t prepared for the ice storm last year in February.” She pointed out that elderly residents are without heat. “This is terrible. Over 24 hours with no electricity in the cold. Now I understand why Pat Ryan wants the CEO” to resign, she fumed.
Congressman Pat Ryan recently address the House floor in Washington, D.C. and demanded the resignation of Central Hudson CEO Charles Freni (story here).
