New York still reeling from electrical blackout triggered by a lightning storm

NKW YORK (AP) — Electric power was restored slowly to the nation s largest city today, but New York was still reeling from a total electrical blackout triggered when lightning hit power lines and generating stations.

The blackout, which shut down the city at 9:34 Wednesday night, continued into this afternoon as power technicians struggled to restore electricity one section at a time.

At 12:45 p.m.. slightly more than half of Con Edison’s nearly 2.8 million metropolitan area residential and commercial customers were still without power. Officials said they hoped to have most back in service by midafternoon, but there was a possibility that some people might not get power for another 24 hours.

The blackout brought the city to a standstill. It shut down the subways, knocked out the country’s major stock exchanges, forced millions of workers to stay home from work and sparked isolated looting.

Mayor Abraham I). Hearne declared a state of emergency and called for an investigation: “We cannot tolerate in this age of modern technology a power system that can shut down the nation s largest city."

The blackout, unlike the 1965 power outage that affected the whole Northeast, was limited to New York City, most of adjoining Westchester County and parts of Long Island. Also unlike 1965. there was looting in the city this time. Police arrested 2.000 persons during the long, humid night —at least six times as many as on an average night. The worst incidents of looting were in the city’s Manhattan (primarily East Harlem and the upper West Side), Bronx and Brooklyn boroughs; 78 police officiers were reported injured, including one who was shot.

The fire department said there were 1,500 alarms — 1,100 of them false — between the time the light went out and 6:30 a m. Officials said that was much higher than normal, but could not say by how much.

Beame said he was appointing a special board of inquiry “with full power of subpoena to conduct an indepth investigation of all aspects of the power failure.

“I believe the people of this city must be assured that this will never happen again." Beame said. “Con Edison at best has shown gross negligence, and at worst something far more serious." He said he asked the Federal Power Commission to conduct an investigation “into why this city has been devastated by another blackout. "The people have been the victims of violence, vandalism and looting," the mayor said.. “The public safety and the city’s economy has been hurt. The people have been subjected to a night of terror .. .. thecost hasbeen enormous." Con Ed said that all of Westchester County, all of the borough of Staten Island and most of thf* borough of Queens had power by noon.

But in the Bronx only 5 per cent had electricity, in Brooklyn less than 20 per cent and in Manhattan, only 25 per cent. Lower Manhattan, the nation s financial hub. was still dark.

Officials said it would be at least two hours after full power restoration before the city’s subways, on which millions depend for primary transportation, could start running.

For the most part. New Yorkers took the blackout in friendly stride. When the lights went out, they came out of the apartment buildings and brownstones carrying flashlights and candles to chat with their neighbors, help direct traffic and drink what cold beer and soda they coold find.