Some in New York City witnessed smoke coming from a power plant on Thursday night before a brief power outage caused problems for many in the city. Though the outage was short, many reported being stuck in elevators for hours.
Passengers at the city's Grand Central and Penn Station reportedly became trapped to such an extent that emergency personnel had to conduct at least 10 rescues after people became stuck in elevators there for hours.
A failed piece of high-volt electrical equipment at a substation was blamed for significant power issues around the city on Friday.
Long Island Rail Road reported that all of the elevators and escalators at Grand Central were deemed out of service, as the city's electrical service, Con Edison, dealt with the power problem. Train service at the station still operated on or close to its regular operating schedule.
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In the early morning hours on Friday Con Edison told customers a fault on a high-tension transmission line happened at a substation located in the borough of Brooklyn late Thursday, just before midnight.
The power provider said customers might have experienced a surge or a power dip at the time. Con Edison said crews were dispatched to make repairs and investigate the issue.
Con Edison President Matt Ketschke told news outlets that the issue is infrequent, and said there are multiple sets of redundant transformers to keep power on for much of the city's infrastructure.
Ketschke said a large flash was seen by many around the area.
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