By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
A burning electrical cable under the Long Island Expressway in Little Neck left hundreds of customers out of power for just over an hour Friday, but there were no reports of damage or injuries, police said.
The outage affected 689 houses and businesses in an area bordered by Northern Boulevard, the Horace Harding Expressway, Little Neck Parkway and 248th Street, Con Ed spokeswoman Carol Conslato said.
The cable started burning around 11 a.m. and power was restored to all customers by 12:11 p.m., Conslato said.
The cause of the burn is still under investigation. Conslato said that in wintertime salt put on roadways to melt snow sometimes gets into manholes, corroding cables and causing outages.
The burning cable caused a transformer on Little Neck Parkway just south of the Long Island Expressway to send sparks shooting into the air.
Lizet Gediciyan, who lives in the house closest to the electrical pole, called 911 when she saw flames shooting out of it.
“We saw the sparks coming out and the noise and the house shook,” said Gediciyan, who said police responded quickly and her power was back on in less than an hour.
At least two nursing homes in the area, Savoy at Little Neck and the Little Neck Nursing Home, were affected by the outage.
Robin Simeone, director of health care at Savoy, said some residents were frightened by the outage but the staff was there to help them relax.
“We made sure all the residents were safe,” said Simeone. “We had an impromptu picnic and sing-along.”
Officials at the Little Neck Nursing Home had no comment, but one employee said the power came on after an hour and a half.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 1-718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
