Copyright David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
Tdworld 19184 Ny Outage David Dee Delgado
Tdworld 19184 Ny Outage David Dee Delgado
Tdworld 19184 Ny Outage David Dee Delgado
Tdworld 19184 Ny Outage David Dee Delgado
Tdworld 19184 Ny Outage David Dee Delgado

NYC Blackout Causes Subway Delays; People Trapped in Elevators

July 15, 2019
Con Edison finishes restoring power to customers on West side of Manhattan

Manhattan experienced a large power outage yesterday evening just before 7 p.m. EDT, which left large areas of New York City and some of its landmarks, including Times Square and Rockefeller Center, in almost complete darkness.

Con Edison released a statement at 1 a.m. Sunday reporting that crews had completed the restoration of power to 72,000 customers on the West Side of Manhattan. The company got the last of six electrical networks back in service shortly before midnight. 

With all customers back in service, the company will focus on investigating the cause of the equipment failures and on getting the electrical-delivery system back to its normal level of reliability.

The customers affected were concentrated in an area that reached West 72nd Street on the north, West 30th Street on the south, the Hudson River on the west and 5th Avenue on the east.

There were various social media reports of people being held on subways, traffic confusion due to the lack of signals and some people are stuck in elevators.

The cause of the outage is rumored to have been a transformer fire at West 64th Street and West End Avenue and not related to hot weather.

"While fortunately no injuries occurred as a result of this incident, the fact that it happened at all is unacceptable," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. "I am directing the Department of Public Service to investigate and identify the exact cause of the outages to help prevent an incident of this magnitude from happening again."

Interestingly, July 13 was also the anniversary of the 1977 blackout that impacted most of New York City.

 

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