At 3:38 a.m., according to scanner traffic, FDNY personnel were still battling an earlier Con Ed transformer plant explosion blamed for the massive power outage in NYC. Watch:
Now CBS NY Reports 4,100,000 Customers w/out power…. customer = families = about 12 – 13 Million people http://t.co/QL0SNuCx
— ?? Afterseven ✝️ (@Afterseven) October 30, 2012
Many Twitter users witnessed it in real time:
https://twitter.com/nova_os/status/263113417114648577
hunch was right – those flashes were apparently a Con Ed transformer in Greenwood, according to a few twitter accounts http://t.co/02hAtCxU
— Bryan Bruchman (@subinev) October 30, 2012
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/263121356558827520
https://twitter.com/brittneyreecy/status/263097892993130496
Con Ed: Lower Manhattan power outage could last up to a week. http://t.co/r4AfDlNS 'We are in a bit of uncharted territory.'
— WSJ New York (@WSJNY) October 30, 2012
At least 660,000 people in New York had lost power as of late Monday night, the result of a higher than normal storm surge, a planned power shut-down and an explosion at a substation in Manhattan, John Miksad, a senior vice-president at Consolidated Edison said in a news briefing.
The explosion occurred on Monday evening at a substation in the vicinity of 14th Street and the FDR Drive, Mr. Miksad said. The precise cause of the blast was unknown, but Mr. Miksad said flood waters or flying debris could have been involved. It knocked out power to about 250,000 people, he said.
#ConEd “This is the largest storm-related outage in our history,” said Con Edison Senior Vice President for Electric Operations John Miksad
— Con Edison (@ConEdison) October 30, 2012
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