LIPA Worker Receives Electrical Jolt

A Long Island Power Authority worker is recovering from an electrical shock he received while working on a downed power line in East Hampton Village on Thursday afternoon.

Village Police Chief Jerry Larsen said the man was conscious and alert when police and emergency medical personnel rushed to Fredericka Lane just after 12:15 p.m. "He felt like his heart wasn't right," Larsen said, adding that the man was "shook up."

The lineman thought the downed wire was not longer live, but it was. "He took a big hit. He's definitely lucky," Larsen said.

The worker, whose name was not released, was taken to Southampton Hospital. His current condition could not be confirmed on Friday afternoon.

According to LIPA on Friday, workers have restored 945,344 customers from outages caused by Hurricane Sandy — 76,000 of which were restored on Thursday during challenging weather that came with the nor'easter.

The incident highlights how dangerous such work is.

Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said he hadn't heard of anything else like that happening in the township. "Not only is this an example of the dangers they face, but let's not forget, many of the LIPA workers are from all over the country. They are representing Tennessee, and Missouri and British Colombia, among others."

More than 14,000 workers are dedicated to restoring the outages, LIPA said. More than 8,200 field crews were brought in from around the country and Canada, and another 1,200 expected on Friday. As many as 700 are stationed at the staging area at the East Hampton Airport in Wainscott.

Wilkinson said while he still concerned for the some 630 customers still without power 12 days after Hurricane Sandy, he said the devastation pales in comparison to elsewhere on Long Island.

Still, he said, "I'm very very happy we have a staging area, and a staging area agreement with LIPA. It gives us open access to LIPA service."