NEW YORK—Power went out on all of Roosevelt Island on Friday morning, according to a spokesperson with Con Edison.
The Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility is operating on backup generators, according to a Con Edison spokesperson.
A Con Edison person said that the company intends to restore power to all customers by the end of the day and that some customers will brought back online soon.
The outage was caused by several feeders failing on the island, according to Con Edison. It is not possible to determine the exact reason until the cables are examined, the spokesman said.
An earlier fire on some Con Edison equipment on the Ed Koch bridge was confirmed by Con Edison.
Con Edison is reducing the voltage in the area to “protect equipment and maintain service as company crews work to repair the problem,” the company said in a statement.
“Con Edison is asking customers on Roosevelt Island not to use appliances such as washers, dryers, and other energy-intensive equipment and to turn off lights and televisions when not needed until the equipment problems are resolved,” states a news release from Con Edison.
Con Edison added the equipment problem on Roosevelt Island will have no effect on the rest of the Con Edison system.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority reports that F train service to Roosevelt Island is running without delays.
Students from P.S./I.S. 217 were dismissed and relocated to the Good Shepherd Church at 528 Main St., according to OEM.
Nicki Leopold of Island Kids, an after-school and child-care program on Roosevelt Island, said the center will be open all day starting at 10 a.m. to accommodate those affected by the power outage free of charge.
“We opened our doors for free just for people that needed to come in,” said Leopold. “I think the big problem for parents is if the live on a high floor, they’re probably not going to leave the apartment unless they have to.”
Leopold said at 11:30 a.m. that five or six people have already come to the center. The power at Island Kids is on, contrary to the Con Edison statement that the power to the entire island is out. Leopold said that only the north part of the island is affected.
There are 10,000 people residing on Roosevelt Island according to the 2000 census.
