Blackouts Hit Manhattan, Queens As Isaias Outages Continue

NEW YORK CITY — The bright city lights in Manhattan temporarily flickered out early Friday as a blackout struck a swath of the island.

Con Edison quickly restored power to customers on the Upper West Side, Harlem and the Upper East Side. The utility issued a statement saying it's investigating what caused three networks to lose power starting at about 5:13 a.m.

The blackout lasted about 30 minutes and affected 180,000 customers, the New York Daily News reported.

They weren't the only city dwellers to find themselves unexpectedly without power Friday.

About 8,000 residents in Queens' Maspeth and Middle Village neighborhoods lost power.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson tweeted that power was restored in Queens' Middle Village. The area was hard-hit by Tropical Storm Isaias and it's unclear if the new outages were connected to storm damage.

The relatively-quick restorations stand in contrast to Con Edison customers in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island who entered their fourth day without power after Tropical Storm Isaias.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said that number stood at 57,000 without power.

"This is an unacceptable situation,” he said.

De Blasio said Con Edison informed him that between 15,000 and 20,000 customers will get their power back Friday. He said the blackouts in Manhattan appeared related to a lightning strike.

A recent lightning strike in Manhattan caused a power outage for 108,000 customers. All power has now been restored.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) August 7, 2020

An outage map shows those powerless outer borough customers can expect their electricity back by Sunday at 11 p.m.

Nearly 300,000 Con Ed customers lost power in the storm, the utility said.