NY Hit With Heat Wave Power Outage

NEW YORK (AP) -- Thousands across New York City remained without power overnight amid heat and humidity.

Con Edison restored power to around 13,000 people in southeast Brooklyn, according to a statement released 1 a.m. Monday. Roughly 53,000 customers were without power late Sunday night, but that number was down to less than 20,000 as of 5 a.m. Monday.

The scattered outages primarily affected Brooklyn and Queens. De Blasio said that New York City emergency management was adding personnel on the ground across that part of Brooklyn, including at nursing homes and adult care facilities, to respond to emergencies and keep people safe.

Around 30,000 customers in Brooklyn were taken off power Sunday so the utility could make repairs and prevent a bigger outage, Mayor Bill de Blasio had said. The Democratic mayor had tweeted that Con Ed would start bringing those "customers back 500 at a time around midnight."

One of two senior facilities affected by the outage had its power back, and generators were being sent to the other, de Blasio tweeted after midnight. Meanwhile, air-conditioned buses were outside the facilities.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he deployed 200 state troopers, 100 generators and 50 light towers to Brooklyn, as well as personnel and command vehicles from the state Office of Emergency management. He urged New Yorkers to check on neighbors, especially the elderly.

"We have been through this situation with Con Ed time and again, and they should have been better prepared — period," Cuomo said in a statement. "This was not a natural disaster; there is no excuse for what has happened in Brooklyn."

Cuomo also said he directed the state Department of Public Service to widen its investigation into last week's blackout in Manhattan to include Sunday's outages in Brooklyn. Equipment failure, not heat, caused the roughly five-hour blackout July 13 that affected a 40-block stretch of Manhattan, including Times Square and Rockefeller Center.

De Blasio tweeted around 1:30 a.m. that additional light towers were being installed, including at two L train stations, and the Red Cross opened a temporary shelter at Marine Park.

While the weekend's heat wave cooled somewhat, the low remained in the high 70s and city emergency management officials warned of thunderstorms. The department predicted the strain on the power grid would go down overnight, hastening restorations.

"It's still hot and people have a right to be frustrated. We're pushing Con Ed to get power back as fast as possible," De Blasio tweeted.

(KR)