The number of Long Island Power Authority customers still suffering from power outages continues to slowly decrease as crews work through smaller area outages during Labor Day weekend.
On the same day that a man was arrested for allegedly threatening LIPA with a bomb scare, the utility is reporting that thousands of customers are still without power.
As of 6:30 p.m. Saturday, 27,159 LIPA customers were still affected by outages.
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The number of customers affected in Nassau and Suffolk were nearly identical, with LIPA reporting that roughly 13,000 customers in each county are in the dark.
The utility reiterated that it expects 99 percent of outages to be fixed by the end of day Sunday.
LIPA said workers will continue to work through the holiday weekend, with more crews coming from neighboring utilities. About 7,500 workers were scheduled to work this weekend.
LIPA and National Grid have been working under intense pressure from frustrated customers and elected officials calling for better communication with customers who haven’t had power since Tropical Storm Irene knocked out electricity for about half of LIPA’s 1.1 million customers throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties last weekend.
On Friday, the chorus of complaints reached Albany with Gov. Andrew Cuomo stating: “If National Grid hopes to renew its contract, they better get the power on now.”