Central Hudson Gas and Electric will distribute dry ice to customers who have been impacted by the severe storms starting at 2:30 p.m. at the Montgomery Senior Center (36 Bridge Street) in Montgomery.

“We understand how important electric service is to our customers, especially in the current environment when so many are working and educating from home,” said Ryan Hawthorne, Assistant Vice President of Electric Operations and Engineering at Central Hudson. “We are happy to provide this dry ice to our customers and appreciate their patience while we work to restore power as safely and efficiently as possible.”

Residents are reminded to stay at least 30 feet away from downed powerlines and that lines can be hidden within fallen trees and limbs. It is important to also treat all downed lines like they are live, Hawthorne said.

Severe weather ripped through the service area on Thursday afternoon and evening, including unconfirmed reports of a tornado in the Montgomery/Maybrook area. The damaging winds left thousands in the area without power. As of 12:30 p.m. on Friday, service has been restored to 93 percent of the nearly 16,000 impacted homes and businesses, and approximately 1,000 customers are without power as a result of the storm, the majority of which are located in Orange County. Crews are also responding to a new, large outage impacting the Woodstock area that is unrelated to the storm.