NYC Power Outage Shuts Down Train Lines

Associated Press/AP Online

NEW YORK - A power outage darkened a large swath of Manhattan and the Bronx on Wednesday, knocking out traffic lights, cutting subway service and forcing the evacuation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on one of the hottest days of the year.

"The entire neighborhood is out," said Phil Quintana, a building superintendent on 94th Street on the Upper East Side.

Con Edison said the blackout affected 136,700 customers in all. The cause was under investigation, but spokesman Chris Olert said it was some sort of transmission disturbance. He didn't know the heat was a factor. "We won't even speculate on the cause yet," Olert said.

The outage stretched from the east side of Manhattan to the Bronx. The office of the Bronx borough president office said multiple spots were affected, including all around Yankee Stadium.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was evacuated around 4 p.m. and visitors sitting on the outside steps in the sweltering heat. The street lights up and down Fifth Avenue were dark.

The power outage caused suspensions and delays along the city's subways. New York City Transit spokeswoman Deirdre Parker said the trouble started at 3:40 p.m.

The city was in the second day of temperatures well over 90 degrees.

The outage came a year after tens of thousands of Con Edison customers in Queens were affected by a blackout during some of the hottest days of summer.

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