The number of people who have been without power in Queens for five days now is actually closer to 100,000, not the figure of 2,000 customers that officials of Consolidated Edison had cited in previous days.
In Astoria, Queens, where some residents have been without power for five days, Con Edison employees passed out packages of ice and the Red Cross distributed supplies to those affected by the blackout.
With power out in Astoria, Queens, merchants tried to keep their businesses open.
At a press conference in Queens, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg called the discrepancy annoying, and said that Con Edison apparently based its earlier count on the number of customers who complained to the utility company that they had no power, and not on any systematic assessment of the power outage.
“I think what is annoying is that their first estimate was done based on phone calls,” the mayor said, saying he should have directed them earlier just to drive around the area to get an actual count of the number of people whose power was out.
The mayor said some customers may not get power back until Sunday, and that Con Edison workers are trying to at least get traffic lights working by rush hour this evening.
His acknowledgment that the power problem was actually much larger than anyone had thought explains some of the anger and frustration heard in sections of Queens, where the system began to fail on Monday, the third day of a severe heat wave. The problem was probably aggravated by thunderstorms on Tuesday that also blew out power to thousands of other customers in the region.
As businesses were complaining of spoiled food and lost revenue, and police officers had to direct traffic at dozens of intersections where traffic lights were not working, several elected officials today called for a criminal investigation into how Con Edison has handled the problem.
“Not only did they drop the ball when the power went out, they’ve been absolutely reckless over the last four days in leveling with the public,’’ said Councilman Eric Gioia of Queens. “We’ve got to get to the bottom of this.’’
But the mayor, at a news conference with a number of other leading city officials who are helping people cope with the situation, said he was not interested in accusing Con Edison of mismanaging the problem. Instead, he said, he wanted to make sure power was restored quickly.
“It did not change the number of people who did not have service,” he said. “Rather than point fingers at Con Ed and vilify all of the people who work for them, I want all of their employees to just continue to work as hard as they can until we get everybody back up.”
The mayor said some 250 Con Edison crews would be out working today to restore power. But their job was complicated by heavy rain showers that fell off and on during the day.
Residents of 28th Street in Astoria, across from a Con Edison plant, were trying to bail out their basements, which flooded from rain that began last night, at a time when the building has only limited power.
“It’s really disgusting,’’ said Lila Stathis, 75, who had just paid someone $463 to pump out her basement because she has power to only one outlet in her home. “I mean, how many days we have no air? And I’m right across from the Con Edison plant. It really makes you angry.’’
A spokesman for Con Edison said crews would be working throughout the night to try to restore power to as many customers as possible.
“We totally understand people’s frustrations,” Michael Clendenin, a Con Ed spokesman, told NY1 News today. “Right now we’re conducting a full assessment of why this happened. Meanwhile, our focus is completely on restoration.”
His words may have been small consolation to the thousands of customers in western Queens who have received no definitive word yet on when they would get power back, or why their particular neighborhoods were most affected.
“I think we were not being told the truth,” said Catherine Volpe, who lives on the 12th floor of the Berkeley Towers in Sunnyside, Queens, where power was restored on Thursday, although residents say the supply is so weak that they cannot use air conditioners or other high-drawing appliances.
“I welcome the investigation,” she said. “I think we were actually lied to.”
Con Edison also said it will be surveying the area that includes Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Hunters Point, and Astoria to better identify each block and home or business without power. It urged customers with power to leave a lamp switched on overnight until full power is restored to the area, to help crews see which homes have service as they work through the night.Con Edison also said today that 35,000 customers in Westchester County — not the 25,000 reported earlier — lost power after Tuesday’s storm. About 6,000 were still out on Friday morning.
Even the new estimate of 100,000 people being affected by the power problems may not be so accurate, the mayor acknowledged today, when he explained how Con Edison and he arrived at that number.
