The New York City Fire Department was forced to save people from elevators across the city and commuters were trapped on the subway after a fault at a Con Edison plant in Brooklyn caused power outages.
Black smoke was seen coming from the power facility in Brooklyn at 11.55pm on Thursday night and a momentary power outage followed with lights flickering for a few seconds.
It plunged the city into chaos temporarily with multiple reports of people trapped in elevators and stuck on the subway for up to 20 minutes. Some motorists also reported blinking traffic lights.
Alarming footage showed a security guard at a Wegmans store in Brooklyn being rescued from an elevator by firefighters. At Grand Central station all elevators and escalators were out of service due to the power issue.
Con Edison said the issue was due to a fault on a power line at its facility on John Street in Dumbo. Most electricity is back up and running.
