After enduring six days without heat and electricity since last week's wind storm, more than 3,000 Rochester Gas and Electric customers now have a severe snow storm to contend with.
WXXI meteorologist Josh Nichols predicts that the Rochester area could see up to 20 inches of snow by Wednesday evening. There were several inches on the ground Tuesday morning and the storm is expected to intensify by Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.
RG&E spokesperson Juanita Washington says so far, the snow has slowed down, but not stopped crews who are trying to restore power to those remaining homes and businesses. Several inches of snow fell Tuesday morning, making travel times longer for more than 2,000 field personnel and contractors.
"Right now, we haven't heard of conditions that are preventing anyone from completing the work, however as those things change throughout the day, it's definitely something we're keeping a close watch on."
Many of the remaining outages are affecting customers whose electrical service is connected to their homes in the rear of their property and other hard to reach places, Washington said.
"So it takes longer for our crews to get through those back yards. Many times, they have to hand dig the poles to make sure that they are taking them out and getting the poles reset. It's a slower process, and that's what's really slowing down how (soon) we're able to get the customers restored."
Washington says RG&E hopes to restore power to many of those customers by this evening. The utility is keeping a close eye on weather conditions, and if they get worse, it could cause more delays and potentially more outages.
Customers can check estimated restoration times on RG&E's website.