BOERUM HILL, Brooklyn (WABC) — Nearly 2,000 Con Edison customers in Boerum Hill and Park Slope are still without power Monday after a days-long outage, and the energy company says the extreme weather is to blame.
The power outage comes in the middle of historic low temperatures.
Along Third Avenue, several traffic lights are out and ConEd trucks contribute to the traffic and congestion.
ConEd says that weather is responsible for the outages.
As is often the case after a storm, ConEd said the melting snow and salt is damaging underground electrical equipment, which causes a domino effect and creates other problems on top of the loss of power.
The result was a bit of a quadruple whammy in Park Slope on Monday. Traffic was snarled due to uncleared snow, utility trucks occupied what little space was left, countless side roads were closed as restoration work continues and traffic lights weren’t working.
Residents said their neighborhood was practically shut down — from barbershops to bakeries to glass manufacturers to bodegas.
Business owners said there was no point in operating a business without power.
“There’s no power, I can’t work, no lotto machine working, no EBT, no credit card, nothing is working,” said bodega owner Jose Biaz.
ConEd has blamed the weather and said the melting snow and ice is blowing out underground electrical equipment.
The frigid cold is also delaying restoration and manholes are under five feet of ice. And then there are snowed in cars sitting on top of manholes, blocking access.
“ConEd has to get to their infrastructure,” said NYCEM First Deputy Commissioner Christina Farrell. “It’s underground, but the cars aren’t moving. Alternate Side is suspended. People aren’t going anywhere. So, we can get NYPD here to move the cars a couple blocks, but then they’re snowed in. So, we have to get sanitation out to salt. So it just multiplies.”
The problems started Friday night when many customers in Boerum Hill and Park Slope experienced partial outages that included flickering lights and appliances that cut out unexpectedly.
But many who spoke with Eyewitness News on Monday said by the weekend all power was lost.
“Right now I have all my food in my bathtub, I picked up snow, and I just buried all my food in a container in my bathtub,” said resident Steven Arthur.
Residents say four deadlines for power restoration have already come and gone.
“Families are unable to make arrangements because the estimated time of restoration keeps moving,” said New York City Councilmember Shahana Hanif.
ConEd said some would have power back by Monday night and some by Tuesday night. However, some residents said they were told it won’t be back until Wednesday.
Resident, Jason Stack, lost power and is staying at a hotel. Stack’s part of the block is dark, with street and traffic lights still out.
But halfway down, several neighbors did get power, heat and internet back Monday night.
“They started to come back on and now we’re full throttle, like everything works, we’re just feeling so fortunate and like, we hit the lottery,” said Kathleen Livingston, who lost power for 48 hours. “And it’s things we took for granted three days ago.”
A warming center at Wyckoff Gardens Houses is open for anyone still in the dark and cold, and local City Council members are checking on those who may be vulnerable.
“We do need a plan from Con Edison, from our city, to ensure that residents are prepared before a snowstorm,” Hanif said.
The utility company says crews will remain in the area as long as it takes to restore full service, and the utility company has brought in mobile generators. On Monday night, they said they were making steady progress and are working around the clock to make repairs.
You can check the status of an outage at Con Edison’s outage map here.
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