Jul 22, 2006 2:52 pm US/Eastern
Outage Day 6: No End In Sight For Queens Blackout
Mayor: Blackout May Last Into Next Week
QUEENS (CBS/AP) ―
A blackout in northwest Queens entered its sixth day Saturday with more bad news: Mayor Mike Bloomberg said some 15,000 to 20,000 utility customers were still without electricity and chances were small that the problem will be repaired by the end of the weekend.
A round of severe thunderstorms Friday hindered efforts to repair a series of unexplained electrical failures in the borough and Con Edison crews have been finding more and more damage as they inspect underground cables, the mayor said.
"When they've opened these manholes, they've found more damage than they thought they would find," Bloomberg said.
Power has been out for some residents and businesses since Monday. Bloomberg said Friday's bad weather knocked out some major circuits that had only recently been restored.
Electrical crews from as far away as Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio were on their way to New York to assist in the restoration of the network, he said.
Con Edison hasn't been able to explain why the power distribution system began failing in the area at the height of a heat wave. It also has appeared confused, at times, over how many people are still in the dark.
The utility has estimated that as many as 100,000 people have been without electricity. It was unclear exactly how many were still out Saturday, since a customer could be a single person, or a big apartment building.
On Friday, Con Edison revealed that the outage was 10 times larger than it had previously reported -- an acknowledgment that drew a furious response from some residents and city leaders.
"I'm very angry. I'm really mad," said Koi Getbam, who estimated that her food market has lost $30,000 since the power went out earlier in the week.
Con Edison originally said the blackout only affected 2,500 customers, but provided a new estimate on Friday of 25,000, saying the initial figure was based only on the number of customers who called to complain.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
