Thousands of utility customers remained without electricity across the Finger Lakes and Central New York early Friday after severe thunderstorms and damaging winds swept through the region, but outage numbers dropped significantly overnight as restoration efforts continued.
NYSEG and RG&E reported a combined 18,024 customers without power as of approximately 4:47 a.m. Friday, down substantially from the more than 115,000 customers affected statewide during Thursday’s storms. The weather system brought strong winds, heavy rain, downed trees and damaged power lines across a large portion of New York.
Monroe County remained the hardest-hit area in the region, with 9,009 RG&E customers still without service Friday morning. Other significant outage totals included Wayne County with 935 combined outages, Steuben County with 468, Yates County with 414 and Seneca County with 402. Ontario County reported 392 customers without power, while Livingston County had 222 outages and Schuyler County had 96. Cayuga County reported 69 combined outages and Tompkins County reported 93.
Significant improvement from Thursday evening
The updated figures show major progress compared to outage totals reported Thursday evening. At that time, Monroe County had more than 15,600 customers without power, Ontario County reported more than 3,000 outages, Wayne County exceeded 2,500 and Onondaga County had more than 2,400 customers in the dark.
Elsewhere in the Finger Lakes, Cayuga County had approximately 690 outages Thursday evening, Yates County reported 572, Schuyler County had 298, Steuben County reported 237 and Seneca County had 196 customers without service. Utility crews worked through the night to restore power and clear storm damage.
Utilities continue restoration efforts
NYSEG reported 4,270 customers without power across its service territory Friday morning, while RG&E reported 13,754 outages. Monroe County alone accounted for roughly two-thirds of RG&E’s remaining outages.
Utility officials said restoration times may continue to change as crews complete damage assessments and repair work. Customers are being urged to stay away from downed power lines and assume all wires are energized. Both utilities said outage information will continue to be updated as conditions change and new information becomes available.
While thousands remain without electricity, the overnight reduction in outages suggests restoration efforts are making steady progress across much of the Finger Lakes and Central New York as crews continue working to return service to the remaining affected customers.
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