Time Square without light: Trafobrand triggers massive power failure in New York
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In large parts of the New York borough of Manhattan, the power went out on Saturday. Almost 45,000 people were cut off from the electricity supply in the evening, as the energy supplier Con Edison announced. Authorities named a transformer fire as the cause.
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Blackout in NY. The power supply failed. (Image: ZVG)
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The supplier spoke on Twitter of “significant power outages”. Subway stations were in the dark, the giant glowing billboards in Times Square went out and numerous traffic lights went out. The power went out in the Rockefeller Center, a centrally located building complex in Manhattan, and in the Upper West Side district.
Lifts stood still and traffic lights failed, as reported by local media. The fire brigade had to move out several times to rescue people from stuck elevators.
Spontaneous shows and concerts on the street
In many cases, cinema-goers suddenly found themselves completely in the dark. Several shows on Broadway had to be canceled, several artists offered spontaneous performances on the sidewalk in front of the entrance. A concert in Carnegie Hall was canceled, the hall was cleared, and later the singers continued their performance in front of the audience in front of the building.
According to media reports, many shops closed earlier than usual. Others, such as bars and restaurants, kept going despite the darkness.
On the anniversary of the great blackout
Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke of a “mechanical problem” in the power grid that triggered the blackout. The power failure was not due to outside interference, he tweeted. “That seems to be something that just went wrong in distributing electricity from one part of the city to another,” he told CNN. The problem can certainly be resolved in a “reasonable time”.
The emergency services reported that a fire and a subsequent explosion of an underground transformer may have caused the blackout.
The blackouts occurred on the anniversary of a 1977 blackout in New York that left almost the entire city in the dark. (sda / dpa / ap / afp)
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