By COLlive reporter
A series of blackouts have been affecting Crown Heights and neighborhoods in Brooklyn in the past day or so, during a week of extremely high temperatures.
Homes throughout Crown Heights reported losing power during the day on Wednesday, and Oholei Torah hall went dark just as a wedding was coming to an end later that evening.
Con Edison crews were seen out in the neighborhood, working throughout the night to get power up and running. The blackout was said to be the result of a transformer fire, Con Edison said.
Community activist Devorah Halberstam appealed for help from elected officials to try and get the Oholei Torah building back up and running by this morning, and due to the efforts of Councilmembers Laurie Cumbo and Chaim Deutsch, a large generator was installed.
The efforts proved unsuccessful, however, and classes for Oholei Torah were canceled halfway through the school day.
On Thursday afternoon, an explosion underground on Union Street led to a fire breaking out from the manhole covers on Kingston Avenue.
Residents called the New York Fire Department, who managed to put out the fire without anyone getting injured.
One resident said that the damage started at the beginning of the week, and the firefighters estimate that it is probably triggered by rusty electrical wires.
The fire caused a blackout in the vicinity of Kingston Avenue near Union Street, with many of the shops losing power, as well as many homes in the nearby area.
As of 1:00 pm Thursday, Con Edison’s outage map showed around 300 customers in the vicinity of Crown Heights were affected by outages.
Activist Chanina Sperlin, whose home is one of those without power, says he spoke with the Mayor’s office to find out when the power will be restored.
“As of now, they say they cannot repair this area until 4:00 am,” he told COLlive.com “But it is suggested that any residents that are affected should call Con Ed immediately and report it. If they receive many calls from our area, they will hopefully come out here to work on it earlier.”
Organizers of the Siyum Harambam at Oholei Torah said the electricity is back in the building and that the annual event will be held on Thursday night as scheduled.
The current A.C. units are draining the system.
The split units are very energy efficient and can prevent outages.
I was there when it happened! There was tons of smoke! It really was not safe!
Corner houses at Brooklyn and president had no electricity last night.
2 nights ago Montgomery and NY had a manhole fire.
we are Hot stuff – LOL
There was also such a fire on Brooklyn Ave. And Montgomery street two days ago