LIPA Spokesman Estimates 90 Percent Restoration By Wednesday
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - One day after Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized the Long Island Power Authority for its handling of getting the lights back on in the Rockaways, the utility seemed to move up its targeted restoration date.
LIPA had been estimating that power would return by next weekend. But speaking Sunday morning on CBS 2, LIPA spokesman Michael Hervey said 90 percent of its customers still without power would be restored by Wednesday.
"There's a lot of bad information out there about the Rockaways on restoration. We started restoring and putting the lights back up last night. Some came on last night. The next two or three days we'll see a lot of progress out there and I think we'll have th Rockaways up and running by the end of the week also," Hervey told CBS 2.
But Hervey said there is a good reason why restoration has been slower in the Rockaways.
"It's a little bit different out there," he said.
Hervey said substations were badly corroded by the saltwater in the storm surge.
"We estimate 90 percent. Almost all of Long Island will be on by end of the day Wednesday," Hervey told CBS 2.
As of 1:30 Sunday afternoon, LIPA reported nearly 400,000 customers were still without power. More than 19,000 of those are in the Rockaways.
