More than 18,000 National Grid customers and 7,000 NYSEG customers were without power across Western New York late Friday morning.
More than half of those affected are in the Southern Tier, with more than 12,000 customers of both utilities affected in Cattaraugus County and more than 4,000 affected in Chautauqua County.
As of 11 a.m., National Grid reported major outages in Cattaraugus (10,179 customers affected), Chautauqua (2,800), Allegany (3,040) and and Erie (1,588). NYSEG reported mass outages in Allegany (1,773), Cattaraugus (2,014), Chautauqua (1,268), Erie (2,092).
According to National Grid's outage website, restoration may not be available until midnight Saturday. Spokesman Steve Brady says the problem is downed lines that pass through terrain that makes them difficult to access.
"Those are the lines that serve substations. So until those lines come back up, it's hard to assess how much damage there might be on the lower voltage end," Brady said.
Brady says the company will have a better assessment later Friday but they expect work will continue in the Southern Tier through Saturday.
