Sandy outages shorter than from other big storms
NEW YORK As the number of nights without power stretched on for thousands left in the dark after Superstorm Sandy, patience understandably turned to anger and outrage.
But an Associated Press analysis of outage times from other big hurricanes and tropical storms suggests that, on the whole, the response to Sandy by utility companies, especially in hardest-hit New York and New Jersey, was typical — or even a little faster than elsewhere after other huge storms.
Energy Department records show that New York utilities restored power to at least 95 percent of customers 13 days after the peak number of outages was reported.
New Jersey reached that same level in 11 days and West Virginia in 10 days.
Power restorations above 95 percent took longer for Katrina, Rita, Wilma and Ike.