With up to 3 feet of snow forecast Monday night into Tuesday, Time Warner Cable has geared up for the blizzard of historic proportions.
Time Warner Cable has been down this road before in its New York City footprint after 9/11 in 2001 and Super Storm Sandy three years ago, so the nation’s second largest cable operator started mobilizing its techs.
“Time Warner Cable generators have been checked and backup power equipment is fueled and prepared to be deployed if necessary,” wrote Time Warner Cable public relations manager Ziggy Chau in an e-mail to CED. “Technicians will start their shifts early. They have been instructed to fill up their vehicles with fuel and to have extra equipment on hand. Emergency responders will be located in the city standing by and we will we be working closely with the OEM and area power companies.”
Chau, who is a member of the NYC local market team, said that depending on the severity of the storm, other Time Warner Cable areas would be able to provide technical support and technicians were also available from other states if needed.
Power supply is usually the critical factor for service providers during natural disasters, which requires them to work closely with the utility companies.
“With significant accumulation of snow, accidents and falling limbs could cause sporadic outages,” Chau said. “We are staffed and prepared to handle those outages to get customers back up and running quickly. If both power and cable lines are down, we work closely with the power company. We follow them into a neighborhood and as soon as power is restored, we begin work to restore service as quickly as possible.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency and called out the National Guard. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the streets would be closed to all but emergency vehicles starting at 11 p.m. ahead of the 18 to 24 inches of snow expected. A blizzard warning is now on for the city through midnight Tuesday.
The historic storm could impact communities from northern New Jersey to southern Maine. In addition to the snow accumulation, freezing rain and wind gusts of between 55 to 65 mph are possible.
