Gov. Hochul updates New Yorkers on wind damage and power outages throughout state

HAMBURG, N.Y. (WHEC) — At the height of the storm that saw hurricane-force winds up to 77 mph, nearly 300,000 New York residents lost power.

Governor Kathy Hochul provided an update Sunday afternoon on the state’s response to the strong winds that impacted most of the state overnight.

The City of Dunkirk, Niagara Falls Airport and the City of Buffalo endured more than 70 mph winds. According to the governor, nearly 10,000 state and out-of-state utility workers will continue to work on restoration to the 97,000 customers still without power.

In the Rochester region, roughly 20,000 are still without power as of 6:45 p.m. Sunday evening.

"Last night, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers lost power as a severe weather system swept across the State, bringing hurricane-force winds to several places, especially in Western New York," Governor Hochul said. "Thanks to the collaborative efforts of State and local emergency managers and the hard work of utility crews from both the State and several out-of-state locations, more than half of those affected by outages have since been restored. We will keep working to ensure everyone in the affected by this weather system, which caused death and wreaked havoc in other parts of the country this week, will be assisted as soon as possible."

The governor believes that massive amount of damage is already done, and there are no other weather watches, warnings or advisories.