The Hudson Valley was feeling more like Chicago this Friday as massive wind gusts caused widespread disruptions ranging from lawn chairs blown into neighbors’ yards up to downed power lines preventing busses from picking up kids for school.
Strong winds led to power outages across parts of Ulster and Dutchess counties, with the aforementioned downed power lines forcing the cancellation of school on Friday in the Saugerties Central School District. School officials issued a notice stating that fallen electricity lines had blocked access to First Student buses, which serve the district, resulting in the cancellation of classes for the day. Teachers were not required to report to work. However, a school musical and a basketball game scheduled for Friday evening were expected to proceed as planned.
Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. reported on its website that crews were actively working to address outages caused by the high winds. As of 4pm on Friday, 688 customers were in areas of reported outages, down from thousands earlier in the day.