Days after last week’s massive snowstorm, the cold is still lingering for hundreds of Brooklyn residents who spent much of the weekend in the dark.
In Bedford-Stuyvesant, more than 1,000 Con Edison customers lost power over several days as melting snow and road salt seeped into the utility’s underground electric system, triggering a series of outages that frustrated residents and tested families already dealing with winter weather.
What You Need To Know
More than 1,000 Con Edison customers in Bedford-Stuyvesant lost power after last week’s snowstorm
Melting snow and road salt damaged underground electric equipment, causing repeated outages
A warming center with cots opened at P.S. 309 for those still without power
For City Council member Chi Ossé, the situation has sparked anger and worry across his district.
“It seems as if every single time one section of our power system has been repaired, there has been a disruption in other parts of our power system or our grid system,” Ossé said.
The outages, he said, have taken a toll on families with young children and older residents.
“It’s ranging from families who have young ones who were not sick at the start of the week and are now coughing up a storm,” Ossé told NY1. “I spoke to one family that is worried about their child catching pneumonia.”
Con Edison says the storm created particularly difficult conditions underground, where salt and melting snow can damage cables and equipment.
“The road salt they use to melt the snow mixes with snow and ice, gets in our underground structures and will cause failures in underground cable,” said Matt Ketschke, president of Con Edison of New York. “We have to get underground to find and locate the problem. That was really challenging for us here, given the weather. We had to excavate, get into those manholes and find the problem. We had a number of cable failures caused by the melting snow.”
The utility said crews worked around the clock in hazardous conditions to restore service. Some residents acknowledged the effort, even as they endured long, cold nights without electricity.
“We did see Con Ed working very hard. This was a very difficult situation,” Ivion Davis told NY1.
Davis said her power was restored Saturday morning, but the night before was especially difficult.
“I didn’t get to sleep last night because it felt like I was standing outside or lying down outside,” she said. “More importantly for me is that my husband has a medical device that’s how we depend. We just weren’t sure what was going to happen or what could have happened last night. That was a little precarious.”
Others said the biggest challenge was not knowing when power would return. Tarek Simon, who lives on the same block as Davis, praised the crews but criticized Con Edison’s communication.
“I think that was one of the bigger issues,” Simon told NY1. “We did get a lot of communication. However, it wasn’t accurate.”
Simon said clearer information could have helped residents make safer choices, particularly for seniors.
“That really manifested with the elders on the block,” he said. “I for one had to bring elders on and off the block. If we had known earlier, we could have made better decisions about what they should do.”
As of Monday, some residents remain without power. A warming center remains open at P.S. 309, where cots were added over the weekend to give those affected a place to sleep and escape the cold.