NY - More than 1,000 lose electricity

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More than 1,000 lose electricity

August 14, 2000

ADVANCE STAFF REPORT

A faulty underground cable left more than 1,000 North Shore residents without electricity for almost an hour yesterday.

The power went out for 1,165 customers in an area roughly bounded by Jewett Avenue, Willowbrook Road, Auburn Avenue and Rainbow Avenue around 11:20 a.m., said Mark Irving, a spokesman for Consolidated Edison.

Homes in Port Richmond, Elm Park, Westerleigh and Willowbrook were affected.

Irving said the fault was in an section of cable lying beneath Jewett Avenue.

"We won't know what it is exactly until we pull up all that cable and have it checked," said Irving. "This might take a day or two to identify correctly."

Service was restored at 12:14 p.m., after Con Ed rerouted power around the problem cables, a repair process that the electric company calls "field switching," said Irving.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, gas service to the 123rd Precinct stationhouse was interrupted after a gas line was ruptured by a sidewalk construction dig in Tottenville.

Building maintenance workers for the city Police Department ruptured a gas service line while repairing the sidewalk in front of the stationhouse on Main Street around 11:17 a.m., officials said.

No injuries were reported, and KeySpan Energy workers fixed the problem and had the gas back on line by 11:41 a.m., authorities said.

The service line transfers gas from the main beneath the street to a building or buildings, said Robert Mahony, a KeySpan Energy spokesman.

"Gas was coming out when we arrived and we just shut it down immediately," said Chief Thomas Vallebuona of the Fire Department's 23rd Battalion.

About 10 firefighters responded to the scene, according to Vallebuona.

"The police station decided to keep the service off until they finish working on the sidewalk," said Mahony.

http://www.silive.com/news/advance/0814utility1.html

-- Doris (reaper1@mindspring.com), August 15, 2000


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