Blast at Con Ed plant triggers loss of power across NYC, trapping dozens in elevators (2024)

An overnight explosion at a Con Edison substation in Brooklyn led to a brief, but impactful, loss of power across large parts of New York City early Friday, leaving dozens of people trapped inside stuck elevators.

The brief outage just before midnight Thursday affected most of the city, officials said. Con Ed said a piece of equipment at the Con Edison Farragut substation on John and Gold streets in Dumbo short-circuited, leading to a dip in power felt throughout the five boroughs.

"A fault on a high-tension transmission line occurred at a Con Edison substation in Brooklyn at approximately 11:55 pm last night," the power company said in a statement. "Customers may have experienced a dip or surge in power at that time. Crews are investigating and working to make necessary repairs."

Power was restored to all customers by 3 a.m., Con Ed said. But the outage caused a number of problems across New York City.

The Office of Emergency Management said it performed around 10 elevator rescues around the city. The FDNY said the department responded to 137 calls for stuck elevators, most with people inside, between 11 p.m. Thursday and 2 a.m. Friday. The average number of calls about stuck elevators in a three-hour period is 15, the spokesperson said.

Zachary Iscol, the city’s commissioner of emergency management, said elevators went out at nine city Housing Authority buildings.

Wegmans confirmed, through a spokesperson, that a security guard at the Brooklyn location was stuck in an elevator for about an hour before FDNY was able to get him out.

"An employee was in the elevatorwhen the power went out. He was in immediate contact with our security team, and within an hour, was released from the elevator by FDNY. There were no medical or safety concerns at any time. We appreciate FDNY's quick response," a Wegmans spokesperson said in a written statement.

The elevators and escalators at Grand Central Terminal were out of service around midnight due to a loss of power, but they were back functioning by 3:30 a.m.

MTA said 178 elevators or escalators were impacted and two people were stuck in elevators within its system.

"Everybody was rescued quickly and safely," said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber.

The 4 and 6 subway lines had delays in both directions earlier in the morning.

"Basically, [the equipment] short-circuited, that caused a large flash that was seen by some residents around the neighborhood," said Con Edison New York President Matt Ketschke.

Ketschke said the protection, like circuit breakers in a house, activated and isolated the faulty equipment, leading to the brief voltage dip.

"There was a voltage dip, essentially people saw a flicker in their lights for a second before midnight, and then voltage recovered and went back to normal," he said.

Mayor Eric Adams said he noticed the power issue.

“I was finishing up a meeting and saw the lights flicker," Adams said Friday.

Though inconvenient for scattered transit and elevator passengers, the episode rates as barely a flicker in the history of New York City outages.

Widespread vandalism followed a July 13, 1977, blackout that was confined to the city and its immediate surrounding area. Twenty-six years later, New Yorkers were among the 50 million people across the Northeastwho lost poweron Aug. 14, 2003.

Much of the city was again dark for days whenSuperstorm Sandyravaged the East Coast on Oct. 29, 2012.