NYC Is Frying This Week

Nearly
two weeks ago, hundreds of thousands of Consolidated Edison customers
lost power in Manhattan and the Bronx apparently due to a bolt of
lightning, though the outage did occur on one of the hottest days of
the year.
Then on Monday night it was tough for some people trying
to stay cool. In a clear sign the power lines are being strained, there
were some scattered outages reported in western Queens and Manhattan,
CBS 2 HD's Hazel Sanchez reports.

Con Ed spent Monday on stand-by in its command center at the ready to handle any power problems.

There
have been scattered outages -- blackouts and brownouts -- as air
conditioners keep humming away. On Monday night, several hundred
customers lost power in Maspeth, Queens, and there was also a blackout
on one block of East 77th Street in Manhattan.

One Maspeth homeowner told CBS 2 News that Con Ed workers stopped by, but could not do much to help.

"(Con
Ed) said they'd make a note of it and that was pretty much it," Maspeth
resident Val Gilson said late Monday. "And they said, 'We'll have
headquarters (see) how much power delivery is coming to your place, but
there's nothing immediate that they're going to do to remedy it.'"

Ever
since a power outage in New York City brought thousands of residents
and workers onto the streets in August of 2003, along with a series of
power outages left thousands of Queens residents without power during
some of the hottest days of last July, residents and Con Ed officials
alike have been on edge as summer temperatures climb to dangerous
levels.