High winds overnight cut power to more than 40K in New York

KINGSTON, N.Y. (AP) — About 40,000 customers were without power in upstate New York on Tuesday after heavy winds and lashing rain overnight.

Wind gusts above 40 mph (64 kph) bought down tree limbs and rattled homes in the Hudson Valley and to the west. Gusts as high as 55 mph (89 kph) were recorded in the Albany area, according to the National Weather Service.

Many of the power outages were concentrated to the south and west of Albany. Central Hudson reported that more than 6,000 customers were without power in Ulster County, which was battered by an ice storm last month.

“Central Hudson’s crews are working to make repairs and restore power to our customers as safely and quickly as possible,” Ryan Hawthorne, Central Hudson’s vice president of electric engineering and operations, said in a statement Tuesday.

He said the utility is expecting an additional 80 line workers from New York, Connecticut, Maine and Quebec to help with nearly 350 individual damage locations.