Below 72nd Street, buildings were mostly completely dark. Photo by Seth, looking South from 72nd and Central Park West.
Much of the Upper West Side lost electricity on Saturday evening around 7 p.m., and subways were shut down in the area. The blackout appears to have been caused by a transformer fire at 65th Street and West End Avenue, according to Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal.
Looking South from 72nd Street and Broadway. Photo by John Wells.
The A, C, D, E, F, M 1, 2, and 3 trains were all experiencing significant delays or temporary stoppage, officials said.
Central Park West was dark on Saturday after the blackout. Photo by Joy Bergmann.
The blackout was impacting people between 40th Street and 72nd Street. Most of those above 72nd appeared to have power.
Several people were stuck in elevators at the time of the blackout. FDNY Ladder 23 from Harlem had already done four elevator rescues when we spotted them on West 66th Street around 9:30 p.m.
Photo by Joy Bergmann.
The Con Edison outage map, shown below, says 44,453 people didn’t have power as of 8:42 p.m.
“Unfortunately, we do not have an estimated restoration at this time,” Con Edison told the Times. “Our crews are working as quickly and safely as they can to restore service.”
As night fell, much of the neighborhood went dark.
https://twitter.com/katekoza/status/1150211286736756736
Subway stations had few if any lights on.
66th Street 1 train station. Northbound 3 trains passing through, but this is creepyville. #Blackout @westsiderag pic.twitter.com/6rOu4gybWf
— Joy Bergmann (@JoyBergmann) July 14, 2019
There’s a power outage at the subway station on 59th, anyone else having this problem? #MTA pic.twitter.com/j9iDIHB7OK
— Elizabeth Brennan (@ElizabethB95) July 13, 2019
NYPD officers blocking off the subway entrance at Columbus Circle #NYCblackout pic.twitter.com/BjDcwstFIl
— Neil Vigdor (@gettinviggy) July 14, 2019
“Get home before dark and bolt the door,” said one doorman on Central Park West.
Citizens stepped up to direct traffic at certain intersections.
#fruitstandguy is still alone directing traffic and no cops to be seen on Broadway and 66th Street at the #Blackout pic.twitter.com/Agdt7ZYn9l
— Scott Wilks (@wilkssc) July 14, 2019
Stores and arts venues were forced to close.
The Shops at Columbus Circle was just evacuated — thousands are turned away. Many in the crowd had tickets for a Mark Morris Jazz at Lincoln Center performance #NYCPowerOutage pic.twitter.com/FnkHRBtKBf
— Neil Vigdor (@gettinviggy) July 14, 2019
no street lights on CPW up thru 72nd street – be careful driving / biking / walking!
— nevona (@nevona) July 14, 2019
Was at Pier i early when they lost power. Jubilee market down, my garage on Freedom didn't have power. And traffic lights below 72 out. Luckily live a little north of the outage.
— m weizman (@weiz44) July 14, 2019
According to @NYPD, power outage caused by a manhole explosion on 65th Street and West End Avenue. @MTA subways affected. My staff is on the scene. Contact me here if you need assistance. @elizabethcaputo @westsiderag pic.twitter.com/k4BonyTmi2
— Linda B. Rosenthal “the #OriginalRosenthal” (@LindaBRosenthal) July 13, 2019
Please contact us at westsiderag at gmail with any information, and let us know how you’re holding up.
The following is from Notify NYC:
The New York City Fire Department said that the outage was initiated by a transformer fire that started at West 64th St and West End Ave thr.cm/FyU1SL #blackout
We’re at 74th and Amsterdam – power still on.
On the Anniversary of the 1977 Blackout, one wonders if the old NYC is making a comeback. I sure hope so!
nice try at trolling. a bit too obvious.
There was looting, arson and son of Sam terror during the 1977 blackout and it was easily 101 degrees F. And you want that back???
I’m glad you are enjoying the inconvenience. Wait, maybe you just live above 72-nd and enjoying someone else’s inconvenience. I would like to see NY in the 21-st century not 50 years behind…
No DiBlasio or Helen Rosenthal to be seen in action…
Your tax dollars at work:
“Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was in Iowa campaigning for his presidential bid, ruled out terrorism or criminal activity.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/13/nyregion/nyc-power-outage.html
At least Cuomo was in NY doing what he’s paid for, meanwhile BdeB is out pressing the flesh and watching corn grow.
Right On!, B.B. !
Iowa is a mere 960 miles from NYC, and if ‘His Horror’ (sic) REALLY wanted to be back in the city that elected him TWICE he could have had his handlers charter a NetJet or such and been here in a few hours.
But BdB (with a post-debate rating of 1%) was too-busy campaigning in Waterloo, Iowa !
Hopefully, this was his “Waterloo” !
The manhole fire was at the same spot where a pressure burst occurred a few months ago. I heard the explosion and watched the ac and lights go out.
Midsummer Night Swing in Damrosch @ Lincoln Center was celebrating its closing night when the power went out.
The Harlem Renaissance Orchestra played a low-tech before we had to abandon ship, but spirits were high. NYC Finds a way fir the show to go on.
Where are all the old-timer, nimby, back in the day types that are lamenting how awful and crime ridden nyc is under our liberal leaders. Peaceful blackout. NYers helping one another.
Back in the day we would be hearing stories of looting, assault, harassment.
I wonder if Seth could take the same photo tonight with the lights on? I think the comparison would be great to see.
Even when you are gone for a few months and everything is switched off in the apartment including fridge ConEd charges $50 to keep everything going. That is what they told me. The $ they make is insane. If you look how the underground cable system is done, it is absolutely crazy. Why does ConEd not update the system? Seems they make enough $ of us.
this comment has been made above, but worth reiterating: We hear week after week from a certain group of angry voices that NYC is deteriorating under DeBlasio into a lawless, anarchistic dystopia.
So where was the looting and crime, when the lights went out in times Square?
https://nypost.com/2019/07/14/bill-de-blasio-must-go-now-and-andrew-cuomo-should-be-the-one-to-do-it/
i don’t think De B should be running for President, and i think he should have come back immediately from Iowa due to the blackout, though it turned out he was right that matters were well in hand.
However, it’s no surprise that the right wing Murdoch rag, the NY Post, is calling for a totally undemocratic dictatorial move of “removing De Blasio” by Cuomo. btw, Cuomo’s administration has had far larger scandals than DeB’s, and more of them.
I’m also tired of the double standard between Bloomberg and DeBlasio. Do we recall that Bloomberg was out of town for at least one debacle? And that he left town almost every weekend without informing the public where he went (his mansion/ estate on Bermuda)? Or that Bloomberg, too, had much larger scandals than DeB… start with CityTime.
And there was one simple thing that DeBlasio did that makes him a better Mayor than Bloomberg: he ended the racist practice of “racial profiling stop and frisk.” it was not so long ago that NYPD had a policy, ordered and defended by Bloomberg, of stopping every Black man under a certain age with no proof nor suspicion of a crime.
De Blasio has many other achievements, i don’t have time or space to refute the Post editorial point by point. There are also important areas where i disagree with him, and where he has come up short. But the attempt to demonize politicians on the left as unable to govern by using DeBlasio is politically motivated, and transparent.
This is done with all liberals and people not on the right. See Barack Obama.
how can you defend a person who has had so many instances of “pay to play”? the guy is extremely corrupt, lazy, and incompetent. his wife has NO ANSWER to what the 875 million given to her program actually accomplished. Bloomberg ran the city very well after Rudy gave him a much improved city. All I disagree with him on is how disgusting Times Square has become. I really don’t care who can be mayor, but ANYONE is better than DB.
Love the dude directing traffic. True citizenship. Owning his neighborhood.
Here in the Texas Hill Country we have quite a few power outages due to lightning. Always makes me grateful for the little things in life.