Crown Heights Suffers Electric Outage for Second Day

By COLlive reporter

Many Crown Heights residents and businesses remain without power for the second day on Thursday, after a series of underground electrical fires knocked out the electricity in the neighborhood.

The outages occurred as the community is preparing for the weekend of Gimmel Tammuz, the yartzeit of the Rebbe, which falls on Sunday. Thousands are expected to arrive in the Crown Heights neighborhood over the weekend to mark the day.

The fires on Wednesday caused plumes of smoke to spew from manhole covers in locations throughout the neighborhood and may have been sparked by electrical overload during the record-breaking three-day heatwave that New York experienced this week.

Con Edison said that crews were working through the heat to restore service to more than 6,000 customers in Brooklyn, as the conditions continue to place a strain on electric delivery equipment.

The outages are scattered throughout the borough, Con Edison said, and noted that they also lowered voltage in certain areas in Brooklyn to take stress off equipment.

Many businesses along the main thoroughfare of Kingston Avenue were closed on Wednesday due to the electric outage. While Kahan’s Grocery store obtained a generator and is open for business, many other restaurants and food establishments, such as Mendy’s and Chocolatte, remain closed for the second day.

The outages pose many health risks and dangerous conditions for the neighborhood. Traffic lights are out in many intersections in the neighborhood, expensive equipment is in danger of breaking, and the many elderly residents are at risk without power in their homes.

The Jewish Children’s Museum, a major landmark in Crown Heights, is completely without power, the management told COLlive.com. Aside from the Museum exhibits, the building also serves as a popular event venue, all of which were canceled on Wednesday and Thursday. What will happen to the events planned for Shabbos remains to be seen, they said.

Angry residents have reported that they drove through the neighborhood on Thursday morning, but they did not see any Con Edison trucks or employees working to get the neighborhood back up and running, they said.

Community activist Devorah Halberstam says that it is outrageous that Con Edison has not provided generators for the community.

“There’s no reason why generators were not brought in,” Halberstam told COLlive.com. “Thousands of guests will be arriving in the community, and food businesses are unable to prepare to accommodate their customers. There is massive monetary loss to members of our community.”

“It is troubling that the power is still out in so many locations,” Halberstam said. “After speaking to Con Edison numerous times during the night, they insisted ‘they would fix it as soon as they can,’ but that is just not good enough. At the very least, they must provide generators for their customers,” she said.

She said she has been working together with Councilmember Crystal Hudson, contacting the Con Edison offices and the office of Mayor Eric Adams to get repairs done in the neighborhood.

Con Edison has asked customers not to use energy-intensive appliances such as washers, dryers, and microwaves until crews complete repairs. The company also asks customers to limit unnecessary use of air conditioning. If you have two air conditioners, use only one and set it to the highest comfortable temperature.

Customers can report outages and check service restoration status at www.conEd.com/reportoutage, or with our mobile app for iOS or Android devices, or by calling 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633). When calling, customers should report whether their neighbors also have lost power.