Citywide Power Outage - What Happened?
Updated: Nov 4, 2024
On Thursday, December 14, there was a very brief power outage that made most of New York City’s lights flicker at around 11:55 PM. Additionally, the outage left some stuck in elevators and caused train delays, and the random city-wide power outage left many confused.
The cause of this outage comes from Downtown Brooklyn, where a piece of high-voltage equipment malfunctioned and exploded. The company Con Edison provides electricity and gas to millions of people in and around New York City, and because the electrical system in New York interconnected, the malfunction affected most of the city, along with parts of Long Island and Westchester. More specifically, “it short circuited. That caused a large flash that was seen by some residents around the neighborhood,” said Matt Ketschke, president of Con Edison.
In addition to the power briefly going out, some nearby residents claimed to have felt the explosion and described it as a “ball of fire” or an “orange glow”.
Sources
Yoon, John. “Power Goes out, Very Briefly, in New York City.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Dec. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/nyregion/nyc-power-outage-explosion.html.
“Con Edison Power Outage Leaves People Stranded in Elevators Overnight across NYC.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/con-edison-power-outage-leaves-people-stuck-in-elevators-citywide/. Accessed 26 Jan. 2024.
Croft, Alex. “NYC in Darkness after ‘explosion’ at Con Edison Plant Causes Power Cut.” The Mirror US, 15 Dec. 2023, www.themirror.com/news/new-york-power-cut-plunges-240592.
