Thousands In Jamaica Lose Power After Severe Storms Hit NYC

JAMAICA, QUEENS — Thousands of Jamaica residents lost power Monday evening as severe thunderstorms dropped torrential rain on the city.

More than 7,000 customers in Southeast Queens had lost power as of 9:20 p.m. Monday, according to Con Edison's power outage map.

Those affected included residents of NYCHA's South Jamaica Houses and Breukelen Houses, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter.

About 13,000 customers citywide — including 10,000 across Queens — lost power in Monday's storms, according to Con Edison, as crews were working to repair continuing outages caused by a heat wave over the weekend.

A Con Ed spokesperson attributed the outages to wind and rain from the storms.

In a video posted to Citizen, a woman who said she was by 110th and Guy Brewer Boulevard criticized officials and news media for focusing on outages in Brooklyn, where ConEd crews distributed dry ice and the city's emergency management teams set up emergency shelters.

"Nobody's giving us a bus to get cooling. Nobody's handing us water like they're doing in Brooklyn," the woman says in the video. "Guess it just doesn't matter."

The Red Cross and the city opened a temporary shelter for Queens residents without power, NYC Emergency Management said Monday night on Twitter. The shelter is at P.S. 268 on 175th Street.

I was walking home + saw people hanging outside their buildings like any other summer night.

Took me a minute to realize it’s b/c all the lights in the streets + buildings were inoperative.

At least 10 S. Jamaica NYCHA Houses including mine still don’t have power.
https://t.co/RrSagzZCNN
— Shaniyat Chowdhury (@Shaniyat2020) July 23, 2019

Con Ed on Tuesday morning did not immediately make available details on the Queens outages; a spokesperson noted: "Our focus is mostly in Brooklyn."

Scattered heavy rain showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue to hit New York City on Tuesday morning, which could drop as much as one inch of rain on areas that were already flooded during Monday's storms.

Patch editor Brendan Krisel contributed reporting.