LIPA expects wild winds to cause major damage to power lines Friday night.

Chairman Richard Kessel says the power company will treat Friday's weather like a low-level tropical storm. He says the potential for winds to knock trees down onto power lines is great. According to Kessel, LIPA will have five times the amount of normal manpower working throughout the night on 16-hour shifts. Kessel also says about 500 to 600 employees will work Saturday to restore lingering power outages.

More than 40 operators are expected to man the LIPA phone lines. Anyone experiencing a power outage is asked to call the LIPA Hotline at 1-800-490-0075.