National Grid Restores Power to 92 Percent of Western New York Customers Impacted by Wednesday’s Storm

September 3, 2026 - 5:00 PM

BUFFALO, N.Y. – National Grid’s field force remains active across the region removing downed wires, trees, tree limbs, broken poles and other hazards, while focusing on public safety and power restoration. Crews were mobilized after a wide swath of thunderstorms on Wednesday brought heavy rain and strong winds to the region, causing damage to company equipment and service interruptions across our 11-county Western New York service area. Among the hardest hit areas were Cattaraugus, Erie, Genesee, and Orleans counties.  

We have restored service to 36,000, or 92 percent of the more than 39,850 customers who were impacted by the storm that brought high winds and wind gusts of around 70 mph. Crews will continue to work around the clock, with full restoration of the remaining customers later tonight. Some isolated and single-customer outages in the hardest-hit areas may carry over into Friday morning.   

“This storm caused significant, widespread damage across Western New York, bringing destructive winds that negatively impacted our electricity system,” said Kyle Bentley, Vice President of New York Electric Operations. “Thanks to the preparation and tireless efforts of our crews and support personnel, we have already made substantial progress and restored power to several customers who were affected by the storm. However, our work is not finished. We remain committed to restoring service safely and as quickly as possible for every customer who remains without power, and appreciate the patience and support of those within the communities that we serve.”

The most accurate way for customers to check on power restoration estimates for a specific address is to log into the “Report or Check Outage” page on National Grid’s Outage Central site.  Customers who remain without power when their neighbors have been restored are encouraged to call National Grid at 1-800-867-5222.

The Restoration Process

The company’s first priority is to ensure the safety of our customers and our crews by clearing away dangers such as live, downed power lines. Next come repairs to main transmission facilities, including towers, poles and high-tension wires that deliver power to thousands of customers. Recovery work at local substations also is a high priority, followed by repairs to neighborhood circuits, transformers and service wires. 

National Grid continues to work closely with local officials to coordinate restoration efforts.  Customers are reminded to remain aware of potential safety hazards such as damaged trees, particularly broken limbs that haven’t yet fallen to the ground. As always, all downed wires should be considered live and immediately reported to National Grid at 1-800-867-5222 or by calling 911.

Estimated Restoration Times

• In the early stages of a storm, restoration times on National Grid’s Outage Central site may be listed as “assessing conditions.” This is because debris, such as trees, tree limbs, and downed wires, must be cleared away so that infrastructure damage can be assessed and restoration plans can be executed.
• It's normal for outage numbers and estimated restoration times to fluctuate. The numbers can go up and down as lines are de-energize to make conditions safe for repairs. Additionally, there could be new outages that occur if additional storms impact the region.
• Outage Central Reminder: Our Outage Central page shows the estimated time of restoration for communities, and reflects the estimated time for the last customer in that community to have power restored. The most accurate way for customers to check on the power restoration estimate for their specific address is to log into our Report or Check Outage page.