NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A very brief but widespread outage caused by a dip in power late Thursday night impacted most Con Edison customers in New York City—and far beyond—with some people rescued from elevators.
The "flickering" of 2023 was experienced as far away as Suffolk County, North Jersey and the Hudson Valley. Indeed, officials said the outage impacted most ConEd customers in the city and people all over the region. Even Mayor Eric Adams witnessed it.
People who were up late enough likely saw their lights dim just before midnight as a high-voltage piece of equipment at a substation on the East River short-circuited, and a system kicked in to isolate the problem, causing a fleeting dip in voltage. Some witnesses saw a flash or an orange glow along with smoke.
In a statement, ConEd said "a fault on a high-tension transmission line" occurred at the utility's substation on John Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn, at 11:55 p.m.
"Customers may have experienced a dip or surge in power at that time," the statement continued. "Crews are investigating and working to make necessary repairs."
Matthew Ketschke, the president of ConEd, told reporters that "probably most of New York City saw this," along with people in nearby areas, since the electrical grids are linked to each other. It lasted "about a second."
"Essentially people saw a flicker in their lights for about a second a little bit before midnight and then voltage recovered or kind of went back to normal," he said.
"The electrical system for all of, really, North America is interconnected," Ketschke added. "So the power that flows here is also interconnected to systems that serve Long Island, Westchester County and New Jersey."
Sean Scott, a software engineer who lives in Lower Manhattan, said he was at home on the couch when his lights flickered. He "heard a soft boom and saw a fireball," as well as smoke rising over the water just north of the Manhattan Bridge, which he captured video of.
"They went out in my apartment, and then I went outside and saw them go out for a good part of my vantage point," Scott said.
During an interview with WINS on Friday morning, Adams said he too experienced the unusual event.
"I was out at the time and saw the flickering of the lights," the mayor said.
The mayor said Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol was set to speak with ConEd Friday and "figure out exactly what took place."
The surge led to at least 10 rescues in the city to retrieve people who were stuck in elevators, including at Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station, as well as at a Wegmans grocery store in Brooklyn.
Some subway service was even impacted due to the "loss of power," the MTA said.
The FDNY confirmed units responded to multiple reports of outages and stuck elevators. "There has been reports and calls at various locations," the department said.
No injuries were reported in the incident, nor were there reports of related criminal activity or major disruptions to vital services.