A mysterious electrical problem in New York City blamed for subway delays, flight cancellations and power failures on the hottest days of the year persisted for a fifth day on Friday, leaving 2 500 customers without power.
The blackouts started on Monday evening in a handful of neighbourhoods in Queens. Two LaGuardia airport terminals lost power on Tuesday, hundreds of businesses have been idle, and the city’s jail complex on Rikers Island had to operate on back-up generators.
”This is outrageous,” city councillor Peter F Vallone Jnr said. ”When is this going to be fixed? If it’s going to be days, they should tell people it is going to be days.”
The blackouts were at their worst on Wednesday, when 10 of the 22 feeder cables that supply the area with power were down simultaneously. The temperature had hit 37 degrees Celsius in the neighbourhood the day before.
Consolidated Edison spokesperson Chris Olert said the power company is making every effort to get the situation fixed but cannot estimate when that might happen. He said the company doesn’t know why things went wrong.
”Chances are fair, but not firm, that it was heat related, but right now that is just a hypothesis,” he said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded that the utility investigate and deliver a report on the cause within two weeks.
That was little consolation for Gianni DellaPolla (26), a baker at Gian and Piero Bakery.
”We probably lost $25 000 in business in three days,” DellaPolla told the Daily News. ”Everything like wedding cakes, eggs, creams, we had to throw all that out.” — Sapa-AP