Power was restored in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said just before midnight Saturday, after a massive outage struck disrupted the city's subway service, forced road closures and plunged many Times Square billboards into darkness.
Details: Con Edison said 42,000 customers primarily in the Westside of Manhattan were hit by the outages. NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson tweeted parts of Hell’s Kitchen, UWS, and Midtown were affected.
The blackout is between W 42nd St and 72nd St, from the Hudson River to as far as 5th Ave. NYPD has confirmed that there’s no foul play. This was a mechanical issue. NYPD & FDNY are currently responding to people with the most urgent needs, especially those stuck in elevators.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) July 14, 2019
The big picture: NYC Emergency Management tweeted that the outages, had forced all lanes of West 42nd Street to West 71st Street between the Hudson River to 5th Avenue in Manhattan to be closed in both directions.
- NYCT Subway tweeted earlier there were power outages in station complexes throughout Manhattan. "The numbered lines are your best bets to get between Manhattan and Brooklyn, the Bronx, or Queens," it said about 10 p.m.
- De Blasio said the "significant" disruption was caused by a "manhole fire" earlier in the evening.
- Some Broadway theaters closed during the outage.
- The blackouts come on the anniversary of 1977 citywide outages that led to rioting and looting, NBC News notes.
#FDNY is on scene of a transformer fire at W 64 St and West End Ave. Members are responding to reports of numerous stuck elevators that are occupied, but there are currently no patients reported.
— FDNY (@FDNY) July 14, 2019
City Council Speaker @CoreyinNYC tells NY1 he's hearing electricity is back on in parts of Hell's Kitchen. He says Con Ed's CEO told him that 2 of 6 sectors that lost power have been brought back online, and the other 4 sectors should be back up online in the next two hours. pic.twitter.com/c4RdeCrK4Z
— Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) July 14, 2019
Impromptu performance #broadwayblackout @wecomefromaway pic.twitter.com/PfHYZeFJ6v
— Chad Kimball (@chadkimball1) July 14, 2019
For the last 45 minutes this man has kept the intersection alive. @CoreyinNYC @BilldeBlasio this is New York pic.twitter.com/gO4BzWjDtf
— Gareth Smith (@GarethNYC) July 14, 2019
Now this is what turning lemons into lemonade is all about! We can hear singing from the streets below...the entire @carnegiehall choir including conductor are putting on an impromptu concert by singing outside during the blackout! #NYCBlackout #BeautifulSoundsDuringBlackout pic.twitter.com/ll5ocnGYvc
— Caryn Ross (@SuperSassyMama) July 14, 2019
Very nice. Cast of @hadestown singing to the disappointed audience about the #blackout. pic.twitter.com/zIHuozHIGu
— angela pinsky (@AngelaPinsky) July 13, 2019
This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
