Hot Weather, Heavy Rain Prompt Minor Outages in New York City

By Alexa St. John and Katie Honan 

Pockets of New York City suffered through the heat without any power Thursday, just days after a massive blackout struck parts of Manhattan's west side.

Consolidated Edison Inc., the utility that powers most of the city, reported small outages affecting buildings and blocks in various parts of the five boroughs. The company attributed the blackouts to either the heat or a heavy rainstorm on Wednesday night.

On Staten Island, an issue with a high-voltage cable that powers a substation left thousands without electricity Wednesday night, but power was restored after a few hours. In the Bronx, more than 150 customers were without power Thursday afternoon. And in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a few hundred customers had no or partial electricity from Wednesday night into Thursday.

Residents in Williamsburg said the power went out after a manhole fire near Bedford Avenue and South First Street.

Jack Yehya, owner of Quinoa Kitchen in Williamsburg, said he and other local business owners heard firecracker noises coming from a manhole in the street just before the outage around 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday.

"Before we knew it, a brush of smoke emerged from the manhole," said Mr. Yehya, whose restaurant had only partial power Thursday. He had to turn customers away and use the fridge of a neighbor who still had electricity.

We don't have the means to preserve this food," he said.

Black Brick Coffee in Williamsburg also had only partial power on Thursday. Joe Drazenovich, who works at the cafe, said sales were down 70%.

"Thursday, Friday, Saturday is when we make most of our business," he said.

Con Edison had crews working in Williamsburg throughout the day but some customers had limited or no power as of Thursday afternoon.

The utility spokesman said 4,000 employees would be working 12-hour shifts to fix outages through the heat wave, which is expected to last through the weekend. Temperatures could reach 100 degrees in parts of the five boroughs on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

Con Edison crews have responded to hundreds of individual outages caused by the weather all week, although most were restored quickly, the spokesman said.

The string of minor outages came days after a faulty 13,000-volt cable caused a blackout on Saturday night that affected 42 blocks of Manhattan between Fifth Avenue and Hudson River. The utility took five hours to fully fix the outage.

Officials have urged New Yorkers to take precautions during the heat wave, extending hours at city and state beaches and pools. Cooling centers around New York City were also open.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the Javits Center on the west side of Manhattan would be open as a cooling center Friday through Sunday.

The heat also forced the New York Racing Association Inc. to cancel Saturday's races at the racecourse in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

I urge New Yorkers to take any and all necessary precautions this weekend against extreme heat," Gov. Cuomo said.

Write to Katie Honan at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 18, 2019 18:24 ET (22:24 GMT)

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