The power outage occurred on Friday, August 15 at approximately 8:20 p.m. and lasted until 12:01 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, August 16 after another severe rainstorm.
In total, 1,646 homes were affected with many putting the blame on Con Edison for not responding in a timely manner.
“I really think that Con Ed dropped the ball on this one,” said Councilman Jimmy Vacca. “It appears Con Ed did not notify the mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, and even claims that there were no records of calls the community made to them about the power outage.”
Besides blackouts occurring through much of Edgewater Park and Silver Beach, Clarence, Wilcox, and Vincent avenues were also hit, as well as portions of Throgs Neck Expressway and Hollywood Avenue.
“We called up Con Edison, but we couldn’t get through, so we just waited it out,” said Lionia Lasagna, of Vincent Avenue. “It wasn’t terribly long. I would say that it wasn’t a bad experience, but our garage was robbed after the blackout.”
According to sources, Villa Barone Manor, at 737 Throgs Neck Expressway, was without power causing some food to spoil.
Also, nearby Throgs Neck Extended Care, at 707 Throgs Neck Expressway, switched to a back-up generator for a time during the blackout so as not to disrupt service to those on machines.
Vacca was on the scene at the Throggs Neck Volunteer Ambulance Firehouse on 3955 E. Tremont Avenue to work with rescue workers should any major incidents occur.
While it appears that no one suffered bodily injury specifically related to the blackout, worries were prevalent that without air conditioning, many senior citizens and other vulnerable populations could have fallen prey to the heat.
“TNVAC has its own power generator, which is useful for the area in situations like these,” Vacca said. “Con Ed says that this power outage occurred due to wind or downed trees, but for some reason, whenever there is a power failure in Throggs Neck, it is always on this same power grid.”
A representative for the power company said that the reason it took so long to restore power to the affected area is that there were 15,000 customers in Westchester County also affected by the storm and without power.
“Our resources were stretched thin,” said Eric Soto, Bronx director of public affairs for Con Edison. “This is an overhead system subject to winds, and we focused on restoring service to all of our customers.”
Despite being ready for such an occurrence, those living in affected neighborhoods were more so shocked than concerned by the events that transpired.
“It was all pretty sudden, but we were well prepared because we had candles and flashlights,” said Clarence Avenue resident Anthony Corrado. “Considering everything, we did ok.”
