Power Outages from Underground to the Home

Yesterday may not have been hotter than Monday, but when you've got stifling heat for two days straight, it's all around sucky. Add to that power outages on subways, at airports, and in neighborhoods, and you've got some very cranky New Yorkers. Parts of Queens had limited power last night and were asked to "lay off non-essential appliances" today, and the N/R/W trains were out for a while, and even City Hall turned off some of the lights. Now, Gothamist remembered that Con Ed claimed there would be enough power for this summer some time last week; Con Ed blamed yesterday's problems on "isolated glitches," but the NY Sun has an editorial about the city's energy plans - and how Mayor Bloomberg blocked a proposal to enhance the city's energy infrastructure with another plant. Thank goodness for the cold front coming in.

Of course, all this makes you wonder how our 102 year old subway system can deal with the weather. One person told the Times, "Every time there's something out of kilter with the weather, something goes wrong with the underground," and it does seem true. Gothamist wonders if there's some temperature or heat index magic number (95 degrees?) that once the city hits it, things go awry, with subway track warping and power outages. am New York looks at "extreme heat" affects the subway - NYC Transit has 220 power substations, making the NYC subways the biggest consumer of electricity in the city. At any rate, we hope you've been able to beat the heat. Our fingers are crossed that subway commutes are more manageable today.

Photograph of sunbathers in Union Square Park by Frank Franklin II/AP; photograph of subway riders, many from the 1/2/3 line, waiting for a B or C by Jen Chung

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on July 19, 2006 9:56 AM

Comments [rss]

Blissed

As of 8:30 this morning Sunnyside still has super-low voltage, which is this weird state where some lightbulbs will glow very dimly but most appliances--everything from clocks to the fridge--aren't running at all.

When you call Con Ed or 311 you just get someone reading a canned response. No help at all.

pen pen pen

the power was in and out all night where i live in astoria (49th st & 30th ave), but seemed to be on this morning (as well as the trains, thanks god). however, can anyone explain what was going on underground? i saw three manholes pouring out tons of rubbery-smelling black smoke last night (one right in front of my house, 2 on 30th ave) and my roomate saw at least 2 more, including one by the woodside projects shooting up blue flames.

kind of scary.

Blissed

Any updates from the frontlines? I'm heading back to Queens via the N and 7, or at least that's the plan. And does anyone know exactly what happened in the first? First ConEd lowered the voltage, so we had two days of weirdly dim lights in Sunnyside, and today the power's out completely. If it was a cable failing, which is what I've read, how hard can it be to replace that? I'm no engineer, but still.

pen pen pen

i guess the trains are messed up too:

http://ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=61134

this sucks. i wonder if they'll be working tomorrow am? i'm thinking of sleeping at work :(

grrrrr i live in queens because i can't afford to live in manhattan or brooklyn. it's not like i can afford to take cabs to and from work. why are they always screwing us?

loveandcyanide

we're still out on 28th ave and 43rd street...how is it possible that it's taking them so long to fully restore our power?!

marc h.

power's still out at our apt. at 31st st. and 28th rd. in astoria, but oddly enough the lights are on in our building's hallways. anyone else have any better news?

bill brasky

Though I am no one's wife, I too just spent some time on the phone with Con Ed (well, 57 minutes on hold and three with a Real Live Lady). She said that she had No information on when power might be back and that they were working really really hard for us. Hmpf.

Besides the power problem and the fire under Steinway that NO ONE is talking about, the other thing that I found disturbing this morning was that there was a construction crew of about five guys jack hammering the sidewalk, maybe fixing stuff, with flip flops, shorts and tee-shirts on. No safety goggles or anything. I put my faith totally in Con Ed right then.

Dan Dickinson

My wife called ConEd earlier, asking if there was any ETA for the power to come back; she was told (and I'm paraphrasing) that "maybe if our neighbors actually listened to them, the load would go down and then we'd have power."

Uh...

Fried

Shouldn't this be used as a forum to share information and vent personal stories about the ongoing blackout? Instead, people are ridiculing each other because of the neighborhood they live in? No grandstanding here, but come on - this sucks, no matter where you live. I'm just waiting for ConEd's excuses to come rolling in. Thier hotline states the outage sparked from the lightening storm last night, when it began well before that. And the MTA is publicly blaming ConEd for the shortage of trains over their PA announcements. Two crooks passing the buck.

Paging Dr. Benway

PS1 is Queens is by far the most cutting-edge museum in NYC. And those artists living in Qns who enjoy its peculiar multiculti flavors are way more interesting than those succumbing to the rather middlebrow groupthink of what's a cool/uncool borough.

pissed astorian

I like it that the Queens haters won't live here! More room for those of us that like it.

Well, apart from the SUCKY power crap. And who cares about hip? From what I hear, people detest the hipsters, which flock to "hip" neighborhoods.

Kojak

Queens natives like the idea of living in the 'City' without being labeled as Long Islanders. It’s a nice arrangement.

Last time I checked Queens is the most Diverse County in the country. I’d rather live in Queens then in a Shoebox Manhattan apartment, paying *1500 in rent.

*Please note that people in Astoria live there because they can't afford Manhattan and believe Astoria is a 'hip' happening neighborhood, cept for the fact that its barren and lame. (Except for Beer Garden)

Automocar

Ben, I actually am leaving today, but I'll be back. Sucks for you, I know.

I know it's hard to hear that some people don't like living in New York, but big boys get over it.

Aristocrat

Further validation that living in Queens is just not cool....

kings of queens

Astorians are welcome to my place in Manhattan.

Queens has gun ranges and archery ranges, sure it's a pain to get to but if you have a friend in Queens with a car, they'll gladly take you there.

That's what I've found with Queens people, they actually will help you out when it comes to transportation.

masande

last time i checked there was a target in brooklyn. as well as a fairway which queens certainly does not have.

and by the way, i'm on day three of brownouts and over 12 hours completely without power.

Jim Norton

I'm a fancy man, and in my fancy Manhattan apartment I require a constant 69 degrees.

People of queens: get better jobs.

F-U Queens

Cry me a river Queens. You got the airport in your backyard, numerous train lines, the only Target in the area, and the Mets!

I live in Williamsburg and I have to deal with the L train f'n up nearly every day, and like this weekend, not having it run at all to and from the city.

Boo hoo you were inconvenienced for one night. Get over it and stop your hatin' on the other 'hoods.

Mark Caserta

A lot of the outages yesterday had nothing to do with having enough power. It was about the transmission lines failing in various neighborhoods thanks to heavy use and the 100 degree temps. A line blew out on 5th Avenue in Brooklyn, causing a lot of the businesses to close all day, including my store 3r Living. Con Ed was there all day but the progress was REALLY slow.

T.R.

I can't believe its going on 3 days of brownouts, and we have been given no information as to when this will be fixed. I guess we are just supposed to keep going home each day and cross our fingers that power will be back? This is ridiculous.