NYC Heat Wave: Thousands Still Without Power After Saturday's Outage
At-A-Glance
- Emergency In Effect As Dangerous Temperatures Arrive
- Con Edison Promises 'Safe, Reliable' Service Over Weekend
- New York City Cooling Centers Open
- Summer Heat Survival Guide
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Thousands of people in Queens, Brooklyn and on Long Island were without power Sunday night as the heat wave that hit the Tri-State Area finished up its third day.
According to Con Edison, there were nearly 32,000 customers without power in Brooklyn and roughly 14,400 without service in Queens as of 10:40 p.m., and the utility estimated power wouldn't be restored until 11 a.m. Monday. There were also sporadic outages reported in other boroughs, but not nearly as many.
Earlier, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Con Ed was taking 30,000 customers in Brooklyn temporarily off power so it could make repairs and prevent a bigger outage. He said the utility's system in parts of Brooklyn was under severe strain and some equipment had failed.
The mayor said city agencies "are on the ground and responding to any stuck elevators -- and making sure seniors and any vulnerable populations have the support they need."
Manhole fires broke out on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn shortly after 4 p.m. on Sunday. People who live in Mill Basin told CBS2's Lisa Rozner the power cut out shortly after.
"Everything started to dim out. The lights were dimming. The air conditioner was getting slower and slower and then full no power and my fridge, my oven, everything went off at the same time," Lynne Sabag said.
Thousands in South Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Canarsie and Bergen Beach, have been sitting in the sweltering heat for hours.
"I had a neighbor who panicked and had to call an ambulance, thought he might be having a heart attack," Mill basin resident Michael Wright said.
Con Edison said it set up a command post in the affected areas and Rozner reported seeing senior citizens from an assisted living facility put on a bus.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the deployment of 200 troopers, 100 generators and 50 light towers as well as personnel and command vehicles from the State Office of Emergency Management to assist with restoration efforts in Brooklyn. He also directed the Department of Public Service to expand its investigation of Con Ed following last weekend's widespread power outages on the west side of Manhattan.
"This was not a natural disaster. There is no excuse for what has happened in Brooklyn," Cuomo said.
On Friday, Con Ed said it was confident in its system and was poised to respond to any outage.
PSEG Long Island reported Sunday night that it had restored power to 24,000 of the 27,000 customers impacted by outages and hoped to have the remaining ones in the dark back on shortly.
About 500 cooling centers are open throughout the area for those in need.
