Storm knocks out services

911 callers could not connect

By FRITZ MAYER

REGION — The storm that blew through the area on March 13 and 14 knocked out power, phone and cable to many customers on both sides of the river. Some of the outages lasted just a couple of hours, but others went on for up to two days.

The ride was particularly rough in the river valley on the New York side where all of the land-line phones were knocked out of commission. That meant many people without cell phones could not call for emergency services if they were needed.

A radio broadcast advised listeners who had an emergency to go to their local fire departments for help. And by Sunday, firefighters were called to the stations to be on standby in case they were needed, because many of them were also without service.

Most of the phones were back in service by Sunday night, but for many the power stayed out for quite a bit longer. NYSEG said that line and tree crews from outside the region came to assist local crews with the hundreds of downed wires and broken poles.

The company said that by Tuesday morning the power to all of its customers had been restored in the Liberty district, which includes most of Sullivan County and parts of Delaware and Ulster. At the height of the storm, there were 7,300 customers without power.