Forty-two years ago on July 13 the city was struck by a huge power outage which left NYC in the dark for 25 hours. Last night, on the anniversary of this occurence, a bizarre thing happened…the city was once again plunged into darkness!
On Saturday evening, the area from Midtown Manhattan through the Upper West Side experienced a massive power outage that left about 73,000 Con Edison customers in the dark. Broadway shows were canceled. JLo’s Madison Square Garden concert was cut short. Commuters were stranded. Phone service went awry. And the iconic billboards of Times Square went black.
Times Square without power. We probably won’t see this again in my lifetime #NYCBlackout #nycpoweroutage #nycblackout2019 #TimesSquare #blackoutnyc #Blackout2019 pic.twitter.com/HQVRBmTAXl
— Joel Benjamin Smith (@joelbnjmnsmith) July 14, 2019
According to the NYC Fire Department the blackout (which began around 6:50 p.m.) affected everyone from Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River, and from West 36th Street through 72nd Street. Deep inside though we’re just wondering: Can we go ahead and blame this strangeness on Mercury’s retrograde? (probably not, but we will anyway.)
https://twitter.com/phy1icia/status/1150217636288053248
Unlike the blackout of 1977 which lasted a lengthy 25 hours, the power last night was thankfully restored after 3 hours. During much of that time it was luckily still bright and sunny outside, and the final Manhattanhenge of the year was taking place! It was quite the site to see as the Millenial Choir took to the streets at that time to continue their concert.
The show must go on @MillennialChoir #mcoinnyc #MillennialChoirsandOrchestra #nycblackout2019 #nycpoweroutage pic.twitter.com/Y2zBfqlrRX
— Jessi (@Jester_MAS) July 14, 2019
Many New Yorkers stepped out to assist with street traffic and, once night fell and it became dark, many used their phones or any light source they could find to continue assisting with the flow of traffic.
https://twitter.com/StevenBlakeLI/status/1150389514369687552
Got to experience live how the city reacted to #nycblackout2019 Few #people standing at intersection as signals with glow sticks to coordinate traffic. #FDNY helping the people stuck in elevators.#NYPD all over the city taking care of the public.#ConEd fixing the issue.#Teamwork pic.twitter.com/06PRKE1e46
— Vijay Jeyakrishnan (@Vj_Jeyakrishnan) July 14, 2019
featured image source:@joeLDNYC via Twitter