New power outages reported in parts of Staten Island
NEW DORP, Staten Island (WABC) -- New power outages were reported in parts of Staten Island Wednesday evening, following scattered outages the previous night.
Con Edison said over 3,100 customers were without power in the New Dorp section as a result of equipment failure. They were expected to have it restored by 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, power was restored for most customers after a fire at a Con Edison substation caused scattered outages Tuesday night.
The fire broke out at a substation on South Railroad Avenue, causing outages for more than 2,000 customers in New Dorp, Grant City and Oakwood.
Con Ed says generators were installed to provide customers with temporary power, and most of the power was restored by about 2 a.m.
The utility said the outages were caused by the fire and are not related to the hot weather.
One street had no street lights, but there was electricity inside some of the homes.
"It's crazy, my neighbor next door his air conditioner is working but everything else is dead," one resident named Dianne said.
Her house was just the opposite.
"My kitchen had no power," she said. "My dining room had power, my bathroom had some power. Everybody in this neighborhood is like that."
The outages came three days after the blackout that darkened part of Manhattan Saturday night.
In its preliminary report on the blackout, Con Ed cited a relay protection system that should have isolated a faulty distribution cable but didn't.
The utility said the relay system at a West 65th Street substation should have kept the problem from spreading. Instead, the electrical fault was isolated at a transmission substation at West 49th Street.
The blackout affected thousands for about five hours along a 40-block stretch.
Those blackouts are now causing concern about the power grid with the prolonged heat we are set to experience into the weekend. Mayor Bill de Blasio will hold a news conference later Wednesday morning to address how people can stay safe.
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