An electric blowout left 1,218 residents without power in the Woodhaven area for an hour Thursday morning, according to a Con Edison spokesman.
Three manholes spewed out flames and power lines above ground also burst into flames at about 6:15 a.m., according to residents on 95th Avenue and 96th Street where the event occurred.
“I woke up to a popping noise and I saw tons of black smoke coming out of the [manhole] covers,” Irene Kesluk said. “The power lines were on fire and there was that acrid smell in the air.”
Kesluk said that her lights flickered during the outage but power was quickly restored. Con Edison responded to the flames with cleanup crews. The crews spent the afternoon cleaning out the black stained manholes.
According to a Con Edison worker on site, the electric blowout was caused by an over use of electricity by residents in Woodhaven.
National Grid and Verizon were also on site but there were no reports of gas lines being affected, but Kesluk said her landline was currently not working.
Nearby there was a smaller power outage that affected three Con Edison customers, according to the electric company’s spokesman. They still do no have power but they expect the area to be restored later in the afternoon.
“Con Ed and the fire department responded very quickly,” Kesluk said as she watched clean up crews hose out one of the burnt manholes.
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