BOERUM HILL, Brooklyn (WABC) — Nearly 2,000 Con Edison customers in Boerum Hill and Park Slope are still without power Monday after a dayslong outage, and the energy company says the extreme weather is to blame.<\/p>\n
The power outage comes in the middle of historic low temperatures.<\/p>\n
Along 3rd Avenue, several traffic lights are out and ConEd trucks contribute to the traffic and congestion.<\/p>\n
ConEd says that weather is responsible for the outages.<\/p>\n
As is often the case after a storm, ConEd said the melting snow and salt is damaging underground electrical equipment, which causes a domino effect and creates other problems on top of the loss of power.<\/p>\n
The result was a bit of a quadruple whammy in Park Slope on Monday. Traffic was snarled due to uncleared snow, utility trucks occupied what little space was left, countless side roads were closed as restoration work continues and traffic lights weren’t working.<\/p>\n
Residents said their neighborhood was practically shut down — from barbershops to bakeries to glass manufacturers to bodegas.<\/p>\n
Business owners said there was no point in operating a business without power.<\/p>\n
“There’s no power, I can’t work, no lotto machine working, no EBT, no credit card, nothing is working,” said bodega owner Jose Biaz.<\/p>\n
ConEd has blamed the weather and said the melting snow and ice is blowing out underground electrical equipment.<\/p>\n
The frigid cold is also delaying restoration and manholes are under five feet of ice. And then there are snowed in cars sitting on top of manholes, blocking access.<\/p>\n
The problems started Friday night when many customers in Boerum Hill and Park Slope experienced partial outages that included flickering lights and appliances that cut out unexpectedly.<\/p>\n
But many who spoke with Eyewitness News on Monday said by the weekend all power was lost.<\/p>\n
“Right now I have all my food in my bathtub, I picked up snow, and I just buried all my food in a container in my bathtub,” said resident Steven Arthur.<\/p>\n
Residents say four deadlines for power restoration have already come and gone.<\/p>\n
ConEd said some will have power back by Monday night and some by Tuesday night. However, some residents said they were told it won’t be back until Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The utility company says crews will remain in the area as long as it takes to restore full service, and the utility company has brought in mobile generators.<\/p>\n
You can check the status of an outage at Con Edison’s outage map here.<\/a><\/p>\n * Get Eyewitness News Delivered<\/a> <\/p>\n * Follow us on YouTube<\/a> <\/p>\n * More local news<\/a><\/p>\n * Send us a news tip<\/a><\/p>\n