NORWICH – The City of Norwich woke to a major power outage Thursday morning, with NYSEG reporting about 4,744 customers were without power in the area.

The Norwich City School District closed due to the power outage. 

A number of businesses were also impacted. Deja Brew noted on their Facebook page they had power but the phones and internet were down and requested customers to be patient, as they were one of the only businesses open downtown. 

City of Norwich Emergency Manager Stephen Cady said he  received an email communication from NYSEG Manager for Government and Community Relations, Joseph Rusin.

Rusin said  the substation system at County Route A, circuits 516 and 515 went down. 

Rusin noted, "It is a substation issue that caused the issue, no power lines or poles are down. NYSEG is bringing a portable substation to get the power back on and should be back on by noon today."

Cady said the YMCA is open and welcomes those to their warming center and a place to charge cell phones.

Cady also wanted to remind those with generators to not operate generators inside their home or garage and to limit the use of your freezer and refrigerator, to save cooling temperature.

For additional information, contact NYSEG customer service line at 1-800-572-1131.