Power restored after outage at Spring Creek Towers apartment complex in Brooklyn

EAST NEW YORK (WABC) -- The FDNY says power has been restored after a large outage Monday morning that affected service at the Spring Creek Towers apartment complex in Brooklyn, formerly known as Starrett City.

A spokeswoman for the complex said a failure at the power plant at 9 a.m. caused a site wide outage to 8 sections and 46 buildings.

The main power unit that went down was fixed, and power restoration began by 10 a.m. But that was no consolation for frustrated residents.

"Something has got to give," one said. "Supposed to be somebody out here fixing it."

Stairwells were pitch black, and some were stuck in elevators when the power went out. There are emergency lights in the ceiling at 1520 Hornell, but they do not work. Germaine Coleman lives there and is on kidney dialysis.

"I come off my Access-A-Ride to press the button to stand there," he said. "Not a notice in hallway, nothing at all. This is killing me. They're trying to kill me."

Eyewitness News called management about the non-working emergency lights and was told this is the first they have heard about it. But neighbors say they have complained during each of the last two power outages, dating back to October.

Deirdre, who lives on the 11th floor and didn't want to give her last name, helped navigate through the darkness.

"I was scared to death getting up and down these 11 flights of stairs," she said. "And I go to the gym."

She emailed a letter complaining about the non-working emergency lights back in December.

"I made a report to my senator's office, outlining the problem," she said. "And I heard back that they would take care of it."

Luckily, no injuries were reported, and all those trapped in elevators were safely rescued by firefighters and on-site security.

Spring Creek Towers generates its own power separately from Con Edison.