Power was knocked out at about 2:40 p.m. at Rochdale Village, comprised of 20 high-rise buildings in Jamaica.
There were multiple stuck elevators throughout the complex, and rescue crews went building by building to help those trapped inside.
A number of motorized scaffolds were also stuck, but all workers were removed and the scaffolds were lowered to the ground.
The scaffolds were up for construction work that is being done around the complex.
Rochdale Village has its own power plant, and does not use Con Ed.
Firefighters say the outage was caused by several turbines going down at the plant caused by a technical error.
Power was restored by early evening.