Con Ed: Blackout 10 Times Worse Than Originally Reported

NEW YORK -- The misery of a five-day blackout that has darkened large swaths of Queens during the hottest week of the year erupted into fury Friday after a power company revealed that the blackout is 10 times larger than it had previously reported.

The development drew an angry response, with residents and city leaders branding Con Edison as incompetent and one state lawmaker even calling for a criminal investigation.

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All the while, Queens residents endured another sweltering day with no lights and no air conditioning as rotten food piled up and streetlights remained dark. A firehouse responded by handing out water and dry ice, and the Red Cross was giving away meals.

"It's a total catastrophe. We've been throwing things out for four days," restaurant owner Louis Panazakos lamented as workers threw out garbage bags full of fresh pasta and sauces. "This is America. It's not Africa. We came here to make a better life."

Con Edison originally said the blackout only affected 2,500 customers, but provided a new estimate on Friday of 25,000, saying the initial figure was based only on the number of customers who called to complain. The number dipped slightly Friday evening, but increased to 26,000 customers around midnight. The utility said it had not yet determined the cause of the increase.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the actual number of people without power was about 100,000; the term "customer" can refer to more than one household -- or even an entire apartment building.

Bloomberg said he was annoyed by the new estimate because "we might have thrown more resources into the area."

"The sad thing is, this shouldn't have happened," Bloomberg said. "We don't know why, but the most important thing -- make sure nobody dies or gets hurt and then help Con Ed to get it back up."

Others had harsher words for Con Ed.

"Con Edison's behavior has crossed the line from reprehensible to criminal," said Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, who called for the criminal investigation. "To know that elderly and sick Queens residents were without vital services for days because of Con Edison's lies is just criminal."

Con Edison spokesman Chris Olert said the company will "cooperate with everyone's inquiries."

"We're trying to get them up as quickly as possible," said Alfonso Quiroz, another Con Edison spokesman. "We're working 24/7, and we're hoping that the bulk of the customers that are out will be back on Sunday."

Olert said a thunderstorm that hit the city Friday afternoon had slowed repair work.

Con Edison said its revised number followed a block-by-block cable inspection in northwest Queens on Thursday night. That led to the higher number -- and escalated the rhetoric against the main power company in New York City.

"Their estimates at the beginning were based on how many people called up and said, 'My power's not working.' ... You can question whether that's an intelligent way to do it," Bloomberg said.

But the wild variations in the numbers raised questions about why City Hall was relying on a private company's estimates rather than compiling its own figures from the teams of people and municipal agencies on the ground.

City officials said an independent count was not conducted because the focus in the first few days was on preventing the blackouts from spreading further. Bloomberg ordered Con Ed to do a street-by-street assessment late Thursday, after many had been questioning the numbers.

The exact cause of the blackout is a mystery.

A series of heavy-duty circuits that supply the area began to fail Monday evening, just hours after the sweltering state set a record for electricity use. More circuits failed on Tuesday and more again on Wednesday, even after the city's heat wave ended and demand for power plummeted.

Just why heat would have triggered a problem in Queens, but not elsewhere, was unclear.

Evidence of the blackout could be seen around Queens.

On Steinway Street in Astoria, a block was closed to traffic Friday amid lines of Con Edison trucks and workers digging to fix power lines.

In front of a shuttered shop in Astoria, melted ice cream oozed from a pile of plastic garbage bags. An employee said the store had lost more than 500 gallons.

Bobby Collazo, the owner of a clothing store, was attending to a customer in his dark shop.

"In 2003 it took a day and a half to turn on all of the lights in New York City and now this little store here has been closed for three days -- with the big Con Ed power station a few blocks away," he said, referring to the massive blackout of three years ago.

Two LaGuardia Airport terminals were without power Tuesday; the Rikers Island jail complex used backup generators. A number of subway problems around the city this week were believed to be heat- or power-related.

Bloomberg said the city had expected to restore traffic lights by the Friday afternoon rush hour, with traffic agents posted at remaining intersections.

Uniformed officers were showing a "significant presence" and two burglary arrests were made on Thursday night at blacked-out homes, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. The mayor said calls to 911 were down 40 percent because police were on the scene, where residents "can grab them."

Bloomberg demanded that the utility investigate and deliver a report on the cause within two weeks.

Meanwhile, Con Edison said Friday that 35,000 customers in suburban Westchester County -- not the 25,000 reported earlier -- lost power after Tuesday's storm.

Some 4,900 Westchester County customers were still without electricity around midnight Friday, Con Edison said.

Mike Campbell, a construction employee on disability, attends daily mass at St. Joseph's Church in Astoria, which has had no electricity for five days.

"It's like the days of Columbus, Mass by candlelight," he said. "The priest had to use candles to read the Scriptures."