How dangerous heat can be depends on neighborhood you live
BUSHWICK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- The heatwave drags on in New York City - and how dangerous that heat can be depends on the area in which you live.
An HVI Map shows how dangerous neighborhoods can be - 1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest.
Areas with more green space like tree cover or even grass which helps cool a neighborhood.. have a lower risk.
Areas with more hot surfaces in the daytime, like the tall buildings in the densest neighborhoods of the city... have a higher risk.
However, health is also a factor and it is directly connected to poverty. Low income areas have a higher HVI score because people are physically more vulnerable to the heat.
There is also less access to air conditioning. That's something that would keep the HVI score to a low 2 in dense Midtown, despite all the hot surfaces.
Bushwick has a high score of 4, Con Ed worked all day Saturday to get the power back on to a handful of homes after a manhole fire, so they can have air conditioning back by Sunday, the hottest day of this heat wave.
The utility says nine customers on Hancock Street in Bushwick are out - not many at all, but a sweltering hot day is not the time to be without electricity.
The sparks, crackling, and smoke caught Christian Hernandez's attention.
"I had no clue what that was. I just saw the smoke and the fire. I had no idea," Hernandez said.
Hernandez had just lost power and figured it had something to do with that. Fire crews and Con Ed were already on the scene.
The FDNY says the fire damaged a car, but thankfully no one was hurt. One or two buildings did lose power in the dangerous heat.
ALSO READ | Tips to beat the heat, where to find cooling centers as temperatures rise across New York City area
"No AC, no electricity, it's really difficult...just been walking around, biking today, staying outside," Hernandez said.
As crews in Bushwick try to repair and replace the burned-out equipment under Hancock St., the utility says its emergency response center is at the ready.
As the city's air conditioning units work extra hard and up the demand on the grid, there have been no major outages so far on Saturday.
Sunday is expected to be even hotter.
Con Ed says in all five boroughs there are about 100 customers out, but they are just scattered outages.
There is no estimate on a restoration time for the residents of Bushwick. The repair work involves cleaning and flushing out the manhole, so there is still work to do.
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