quote:

Power outage sweeps parts of New York City

Bron : Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A power outage affected parts of Manhattan's Upper East Side on Wednesday, partially shutting down subway service, officials and witnesses said.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A power outage struck parts of Manhattan's Upper East Side during a heat wave on Wednesday, shutting down some subway services and electricity to buildings in one of the wealthiest parts of the most populous U.S. city.

Power utility Con Edison said it was evaluating reports of lost service, and the transportation authority said at least three subway lines were down on what a spokeswoman called a power dip.

"We're still gathering information, but it seems that we had a power dip in the area of 59th street and Lexington Avenue and so far it affects the E, the V and Number 6 lines and that's all we have right now," a spokeswoman for New York City transit said.

Con Edison provides power service to 3.2 million customers in New York City and surrounding areas.

Hot weather strains the power grid, as it did last year when areas of the New York borough of Queens went without electricity for more than a week.

On August 14, 2003, New York City and much of the Northeast and parts of the Midwest suffered a blackout that affected some 50 million people. It was widely seen as the worst blackout in North American history.

That outage stranded hundreds of thousands of commuters and trapped subway riders underground in New York City, where thousands of people spent a hot night sleeping on sidewalks or walking miles in the darkness to reach their homes.