Power Goes Out in New York City After Con Edison Explosion

An explosion at a New York City substation caused power to go out for many New York City residents on Dec. 14. The power company said a transmission line failed just before midnight and affected customers throughout all five boroughs.

Lights were reported flickering in neighborhoods including Lower Manhattan, the Upper East Side, Bed-Stuy, Downtown Brooklyn, and Long Island City. Black smoke was seen coming from a Con Edison power facility in Brooklyn, New York, at 11:55 p.m. on Thursday night. A power outage followed with lights flickering.

The event temporarily plunged the Big Apple into chaos. Multiple reports of people trapped in elevators and stuck on the subway emerged. However, these types of events can occur even during the smallest power surge.

A fault on a high-tension transmission line occurred at one of our Brooklyn substations around 11:55pm. Customers may have experienced a power dip or surge at that time. Our crews are investigating and making necessary repairs.

— Con Edison (@ConEdison) December 15, 2023

Con Edison took to X to share the following statement regarding the temporary loss of power. They called the loss of power a “dip or surge.”

“A fault on a high-tension transmission line occurred at one of our Brooklyn substations around 11:55pm. Customers may have experienced a power dip or surge at that time. Our crews are investigating and making necessary repairs.”

Crews were working on repairs to a faulty transmission line when the electrical mishap took place. Witnesses claim a plume of smoke was visible rising out of the substation at the time of the equipment failure, while others reported the sound of an explosion.

ABC News reported that the disruption set off fire alarms and left people trapped in elevators across the city. MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber shared that 178 elevators and escalators in the MTA system were affected. Two people were stuck in elevators and rescued. The 4 and 6 subway lines had delays in both directions earlier in the morning, but service is back to normal.

Such incidents are rare but not unheard of. Circuit breakers isolated the malfunctioning piece of equipment, and the incident did not appear to be weather-related.