Underground, the scene was similarly in disarray as the blackout affecting 73,000 customers for more than three hours hit the subway system. Con Edison CEO John McAvoy said a problem at a substation caused the 6:47 p.m. power failure, which stretched 30 blocks from Times Square to 72nd Street and Broadway and spread to Rockefeller Center. Electricity was restored to customers and businesses in midtown Manhattan and the Upper West Side by around midnight, according to a statement from the utility.
McAvoy said the exact cause of the blackout would not be known until an investigation is completed.
The outage affected the entire subway system, closing four Manhattan stations to the public ‐ Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center, Hudson Yards and Fifth Avenue at 53rd Street. But Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Maxwell Young said train operators were able to manually change the signals and bring at least one car into stations so passengers could disembark.