St. Michael's Hospital Experiences Power Outage: Homes, Businesses Affected In Newark

Newark, NJ – A power outage that hit downtown Newark on Thursday may have been caused by a manhole fire.

A Saint Michael’s Medical Center spokesman said that the facility experienced a disruption in electrical power at 2 a.m. “as a result of a manhole fire that knocked out power to the hospital.”

The power outage also reportedly affected hundreds other local businesses, homes and Rutgers-Newark, which cancelled several classes.

• See related article: Newark Sees Power Outage: Some Classes Canceled At Rutgers

The hospital has two backup diesel generators which kicked on as expected, and power was immediately restored to all critical areas of the hospital, the spokesman said.

According to the hospital, patient care was not affected in any way, and all monitors, scanners and other devices requiring electrical power remained “fully functional.”

“Our emergency room is open and our operating room is ready to go for any emergency procedures,” the hospital stated in a news release. “Our laboratory, which is in another building, was not affected. Nearly all patient activity can continue. Elective surgeries have been postponed.”

The statement continued:

“This afternoon, PSEG delivered a 2MW backup generator that can power the entire hospital. Crews from PSE&G have successfully connected it to the hospital’s electrical system and have brought all all remaining areas of the hospital online. We want to thank PSEG for the professional and prompt manner in which they are handling this critical situation.”

Anyone who has same day surgery or an elective procedure scheduled for Friday, April 15, should call Marie DeSimone, 908-307-0881, to verify their appointment, the statement read.

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