Earlier this morning, a transformer exploded in the Bronx, causing a power outage in the Gun Hill section. One of the affected buildings in the area was Eastchester Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, and one of the patients on ventilators died, according to the Post. more ›

Yesterday, a survey revealed the unsurprising news that customers are pretty unhappy with NJ Transit's customer service, rating the service a 4.2 on a scale of 0 to 10. Now, NJ Transit is telling its customers, "Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line trains are subject to 30-60 minute delays in/out of NY due to power problems in one Hudson River tunnel. Midtown Direct trains are operating to/from Hoboken. PATH cross honoring rail tickets/passes at Newark, Hoboken and 33rd St." D'oh! more ›

No derailments this time, but once again NJ Transit and Amtrak trains between New York and New Jersey are having some serious troubles. The problem this go round? They ain't got no power in the tunnels! Which means that Some people are not having a good commute at all. more ›

It's has taken nearly a week to bring electricity back to 99% of the hundreds of thousands of Long Island Power Authority customers who lost power when Hurricane Irene knocked it out, but some Long Islanders are really upset. Like Rajiv Pandey, a Central Islip 33-year-old, who was arrested for allegedly calling News 12 and saying he would plant a bomb at a LIPA facility on Friday. more ›

It has not been a good day for area communters relying on planes or trains (automobile owners, you're next). Starting around 2:30 p.m. today, some 20,000 PSE&G customers lost power due to an equipment failure at the utility’s Bayway Switching Station in Elizabeth. At Newark Liberty International Airport, power was down for about 90 minutes. Terminals A, B and C lost power, while the control tower was placed on backup power. more ›

About three thousand customers are still without power after Thursday's tornados hit Brooklyn and Queens. A Middle Village resident told the Daily News, "I threw out all the food today. Everything in the freezer was getting soft. Are they going to pay us?" she asked. "Are you going to reimburse us for the food I threw out?" more ›

We'll get to the mess that was/still is Long Island Rail Road travel in a moment, but NJ Transit and Amtrak riders are having their share of train pain this morning. Here's an alert from NJ Transit at 7:57 a.m.: "Rail service on the Northeast Corridor (including NJCL & Midtown Direct) temporarily suspended due to Amtrak power problem." And here's how a woman on Twitter explained it, "What the fucking fuck, #NJTransit? 'All trains are coming to a stop...um, I'll let you know,' is a useless announcement." more ›

Harlem residents are relieved this morning now that power has been restored to them after many hours without electricity. Around 10 p.m. last night, a number of high voltage underground feeder lines failed on 140th Street near 7th Avenue, according to WCBS 2, which adds, "Police were on scene with streetlights and the Office of Emergency Management was also there helping residents cope with the heat." Con Ed is working to "install a temporary above-ground line" while the underground feeder lines are repaired. more ›

NJ Transit has this message on its website, "Due to equipment problems related to the extreme heat, NJ TRANSIT is advising rail customers to expect delays and cancelations during the morning commute of Wednesday, July 7, 2010." OUCH. 1010 WINS reports, "A train got stuck because of the power problems at the Elizabeth station, forcing frustrated passengers, including 1010 WINS' business correspondent Larry Kofsky, to wait on the platform in the baking sun." more ›

Uh oh: As the city endures a sweltering heat wave, after 11:30 p.m. last night, power lines in the Corona section of Queens were sparking and on fire. WCBS 2 reports they were "falling down on parked cars and causing power outages" and "homes were evacuated in the middle of a swelteringly-hot night because of the dangerous fire conditions." more ›

A young woman got frightened and died yesterday after being trapped in an elevator for two hours during a blackout. Danielle Goldberg was traveling up to her sixth-floor apartment around 11:35 a.m. when all of a sudden the power was cut. "She was scared because the lights were out and couldn't get out of the elevator," explained her brother, Steven. The 26-year-old who suffered from congenital heart defect had a panic attack and used her cell phone to alert a relative. "She called my mom to calm down, but it didn't work," he said more ›

After last weekend's Nor'Easter left many NYC-area resident without electricity, Con Ed's crews are still working to have most customers' power back by the end of today. Most of the outages are currently in Westchester County; Con Ed says it's getting a hand from "out-of-state utility crews from Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky and Massachusetts, which will assist Con Edison’s crews." One Bronx resident whose power was restored on yesterdayday said, "This was worse than the big blackout. I'm a military veteran, so honestly, for me, it was no problem, but for a lot of my neighbors it was very tough. We had to get Meals on Wheels over here to start delivering food. You had to see my neighbors. They were going crazy." more ›

It's been more than three days since the Nor'Easter hit, and though lots of New Yorkers are still without electricity, their numbers are dwindling and Con Edison says all power will be back by tomorrow. Chris Olert, a spokesman for the company, told Gothamist that at latest count 143,000 customers have had power restored: "1,000 remain without electricity on Staten Island, 700 in The Bronx, and approximately 24,000 customers in Westchester County," he reported. (Queens and Brooklyn are up and running.) more ›

Two politicians got together and wrote a letter to Con Edison, demanding that Staten Island be compensated for its loss of electricity during this weekend's Nor'Easter. More than 48 hours after the lights went out, some borough residents are still without power, reports the Advance. With city temperatures rising, Councilmen James Oddo and Vincent Ignizio say current obstacles include browning meat and quickly wilting lettuce. "The fact is that without proper refrigeration food spoils rather quickly and we are concerned that many of our constituents have powerless refrigerators and freezers filled with rotten and useless food. This leads to considerable financial losses," they wrote. Con Ed hasn't gotten back to them but it's currently handing out dry ice at the Staten Island Mall. more ›

Thousands of residents across the region are still without power after the Nor'Easter that hit on Saturday. According to the Post, Con Ed says "9,000 customers on Staten Island had no juice, along with 1,470 in Queens, 3,700 in The Bronx, 650 in Brooklyn, and about 55,000 in Westchester." And Con Ed CEO Kevin Burke said, "This is the worst storm I've ever seen." more ›

This weekend's torrential rainstorm killed at least six people in New York and New Jersey, and the NYPD says it received the second highest volume ever of 911 calls in a 24-hour period (65,000)—even more than on 9/11. (The 2003 blackout still ranks number one in 911, with 96,000 calls.) The storm dumped up to 6 inches of rain on parts of the tri-state area, stranding hundreds of travelers in trains, cars and airports, and causing "tens of millions of dollars" in damage according to Senator Chuck Schumer, who called on FEMA to send damage assessment teams to parts of New York. As of last night, more than 57,000 Con Ed customers were without power. Guess which borough had the fewest power outages! more ›

The Nor'easter that swept in yesterday left a lot of damages and three deaths in its wake. Two people were killed by a falling tree in Teaneck, NJ while a woman in Bay Shore, Long Island was also killed by a falling tree. Others experienced more downed trees, power outages, and flooding. more ›

Yesterday, low voltage readings on train tracks in NJ forced Amtrak and NJ Transit to suspend service for three hours during the morning rush hour on a pre-Christmas Eve travel day. According to the NY Times, "The partial shutdown began about 8:30 a.m., disrupting an estimated 100 trains — about 20 from Amtrak and about 80 from New Jersey Transit." Though service was back up by noon, there were delays of 60-90 minutes in the late afternoon. more ›

Last night's storm knocked out power for residents in the Tri-State area, with nearly 5,000 outages on Long Island and around 18,000 in NJ. But wind gusts of up to 45 MPH (let's hope no more trees get knocked down and eliminate cable service!) will continue through this morning. Weather-wise, it'll be in 60s today—WCBS 2's John Elliott proclaims, "The source and direction of the storm left us with rain and not snow,. The gusty south winds that brought in the heavy rain this morning will leave us with a day that feels more like early October than early December." more ›

Ouch: According to WCBS 2, "A member of the NYPD's mounted patrol unit was on the mend Saturday after a fall down a flight of stairs. The officer was inside the stables at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx when a power outage left him in the dark." Apparently a tree fell on the power lines! The officer, who is expected to make a full recovery, did suffer neck and back injuries and may also have a broken leg. more ›

Yesterday's fair amount of chaos across the city, from power outages to downed trees, from toppled Sukkot structures to bricks falling off buildings and the city closing down streets to deal with them. Some other stats and stories: more ›

The afternoon thunderstorms, which turned the sky above some parts of the city pitch black, have wreaked a bit of havoc: Not only was there flooding that closed certain Staten Island streets, over a thousand Con Ed customers on Staten Island are without power (before, the outage hit 2,500 customers). As for the mass transit commute, PATH service between the World Trade Center and Newark is suspended as is service between Newark and Journal Square, due to signal problems (according to the PATH, "Passengers in New York can take NJ Transit at Penn Station New York. Passengers in Newark Penn Station can take NJ Transit into New York Penn Station NJ Transit is cross honoring"). And for a little more weather fun, check out this video of a funnel cloud; it was taken in Wantage, NJ (according to Wiki, "If a funnel cloud touches the ground it becomes a tornado). more ›

Last night, heavy storms and hail hit Westchester County, downing trees and utility poles and causing power outages to 17,000 customers. The downed power lines also prompted car fires. A Yonkers Fire Department official told 1010WINS, "Possibly a tornado came through the city...the northwest section...it was just devastating...trees and wires down...the amount of hail was unbelievable." (Reports of a tornado are still being confirmed.) WCBS 2 reports, "The dime-sized hail covered the roads in many areas across the city, posing as snow in July... The bizzare weather scene will most certainly cause problems for Wednesday's commute." According to Con Ed, Yonkers and Mount Vernon suffered the most outages while Bronxville, New Rochelle and Eastchester were also affected. Service may not be restored until later this afternoon. According to USA Today, "Hail forms when strong currents of rising air, known as updrafts, carry water droplets high enough in a thunderstorm for the water droplets to freeze... While hailstones are ice, hail is mostly a spring and summer phenomena because the strong thunderstorms needed to produce hail are much more common during warm weather." more ›

Co-Op City, the massive co-op housing development (reportedly the largest in the world) in the Bronx, lost power over night. Con Ed says power was out at eight building and has been restored to six of them, and the other two buildings, per WCBS 880, "are being worked on and won't be back on until Saturday morning." Initially there was a fire, but that has been put out. Con Ed would also like you to know that they didn't cause it--apparently Co-Op City maintenance workers had been working on feeders, one of which tripped and cause the outage. WNBC reports that "there may be power in public areas, but not in apartments." People had been stuck in elevators and the FDNY was able to remove them. No injuries have been reported. more ›

Two elevators inside the Empire State Building stopped working last night when construction workers accidentally cut power lines. Over five hundred tourists were stranded on the observation deck while more than a dozen were stuck in an elevator near the 80th floor for over an hour. Two women were injured when, witnesses said, they had to jump off the stuck lifts about a foot to the floor. Both were taken to the hospital. more ›

By last night, power was restored to most customers in Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Borough Park and Park Slope who were hit by outages. All residents in those neighborhoods were asked to conserve energy by not using air-conditioners and other power-sucking appliances as "4 of the 12 big feeders...malfunctioned," due to "overheating or overloading." Con Ed worked throughout yesterday to return power to all but a few residential and commercial customers were still without power overnight. While Brooklyn residents can go back to using their AC, etc., here are tips on conserving energy (and saving money!). more ›

Con Ed is asking residents in some parts of Brooklyn to stop using "non-essential appliances" (including air-conditioning) because of power line issues. The issues have left around 2,000 customers--and keep in mind a customer can be an entire apartment building--without power in Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Borough Park, and Park Slope. more ›

Con Ed has been working to restore power to customers in Brooklyn, Queens and Westchester County who are still without power after last night's storms (thousands were without power all over the region, served by various utilities). And recently, Con Ed has been sharing a website that maps power outages with the public. more ›