Thousands of Brooklynites have lost power in recent days because of last week\u2019s snow, and the lingering cold has made it harder for Con Edison to get the lights back on.<\/p>\n
As of Monday afternoon, Con Ed reported around 2,000 of its Brooklyn customers were without power, concentrated in the neighborhoods of Boerum Hill, Park Slope and Gowanus. Over the weekend, nearly 300 customers in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood also reported a prolonged outage.<\/p>\n
New York\u2019s buried powerlines were good news during last week\u2019s massive storm. The lights pretty much stayed on for New Yorkers as other parts of the country dealt with widespread outages caused by falling trees taking out above-ground lines.<\/p>\n
But the 116 million pounds of salt that the city\u2019s sanitation department said it has dumped on city streets and sidewalks to combat the snow is taking its toll on the lines.<\/p>\n
The salt mixed with water seeps underground where Con Ed\u2019s maze of cables runs, causing localized service interruptions, the utility company said. And the pile-up of iced-over snow is making it harder for crews to access the lines to make necessary fixes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese conditions are why portions of certain neighborhoods are experiencing outages, and why restorations have taken longer than anticipated,\u201d Con Ed spokesperson Jamie McShane said. \u201cOur crews will remain on site and continue repairs until every customer is restored.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salt water is highly corrosive and is also an excellent conductor of electricity. The result is rust, electrical shorts and equipment failure. Sodium chloride rapidly damages metal and leaves a residue that continues to attract moisture and damages insulation and the protective coating around cables. In this case, the electricity distribution cables, which bring power to each building or structure, have been affected.<\/p>\n
More than a week after the snowfall, streets and sidewalks still have a foot or more of snow that has trapped cars parked along roads, forcing owners to dig out their cars.<\/p>\n
In many cases, vehicles remain buried in snow. The remaining piles of snow and trapped cars have prevented access to Con Ed\u2019s manholes, making it difficult to repair damaged cables and get power back to residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must dig out dense, frozen layers of snow and ice just to access the system,\u201d McShane said.<\/p>\n
Normally, these outages would be repaired much more quickly, McShane said, but some Brooklyn residents have been without power for more than 24 hours.<\/p>\n
Bed-Stuy resident Simon Moss told Gothamist it took more than 24 hours to restore service to various buildings in his vicinity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn both my block and several around, we\u2019ve had to go door to door to make sure our elderly have somewhere to stay,\u201d Moss said. \u201cOur block had to mobilize to get elders looked after.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local businesses in the area were unable to operate over the weekend as a result of outages, Moss said.<\/p>\n
Con Ed has been working with the New York City Emergency Management to dig out these locations and, in some cases, tow cars to help repair crews gain access. The emergency management department has also deployed warming buses to areas affected by the power outages.<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, crews restored service to much of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. McShane said work to restore power in other areas is ongoing. The latest outage data is available on the company\u2019s online map<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re doing our best to push Con Edison to get the power back on,\u201d New York City Councilmember Chi Oss\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n