Power Outages Coincide in LA, New York, and San Francisco
Commuters' trips to work got a lot longer.
A series of subsequent power outages in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City left commuters stranded and traffic backed up on Friday morning. Although the outages occurred around the same time, there is as of yet no evidence that they were connected by anything more than coincidence.
Power Outage in New York Friday
The first outage occurred at around 7:20 a.m. in New York, when the power went down at the 7th Avenue and 53rd Street subway station, which sent a shockwave of significant delays out from the hub and into the rest of the subway system. By 11:30 a.m. the city’s MTA confirmed that generators were running again in the station, although the New York subways were set to run delayed into the afternoon.
The MTA and Con Ed are still working to determine the cause of the outage.
Power Outage in Los Angeles Friday
Later in the morning, power outages were reported in Los Angeles International Airport, as well as in several other areas around the city.
The outage sent frustrated fliers onto Twitter to comment.
While the outage was an inconvenience, it does not appear to be as widespread as it’s San Francisco counterpart.
Power Outage in San Francisco Friday
By far the largest outage of the morning happened in San Francisco, where, as of 1 p.m., it appears that the majority of the city is out of commission.
The massive outage is closing BART stations, shutting down traffic signals, and affecting office buildings. Residents and workers in the area are calling it “totally surreal.”
Pictures show blocks of stalled traffic as drivers struggle to navigate without stoplights. SF Gate reports that no injuries have been reported yet in connection to the outage.
The San Francisco began at noon eastern, 9 a.m. local time, and resulted from a substation fire. Areas confirmed to be worst affected include the entirety of the financial district, parts of SoMa, Richmond, Nob Hill, and Pacific Heights.
Pacific Gas and Electric’s own outage map showed thousands affected and current estimates indicate that the outage is hitting up to 90,000 customers.
Sources initially told Inverse that PGE was working to restore power to the city by 12:30 p.m. local time. The company now says that power should be restored to most customers by 1 p.m.
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