Hundreds of Morrisania tenants spend hours without electricity, water due to power outage

Renee Castillo’s family became a bucket brigade, using the water station at a fire hydrant outside of the Morris Houses near East 170th Street and Washington Avenue.

Tim Harfmann

Nov 2, 2024, 2:33 AM

Updated 31 days ago

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Hundreds of Morrisania residents spent hours without electricity and water, after Con Edison said equipment failure caused an outage on Friday.
Renee Castillo’s family became a bucket brigade, using the water station at a fire hydrant outside of the Morris Houses near East 170th Street and Washington Avenue.
“There’s no lights, no electricity; and thank God my mom is right across the street so I can go to my mom’s house,” Castillo said.
Castillo said she lives in one of four apartment buildings that lost water and electricity Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Castillo said her mom lives in one of two other buildings that only lost water.
“God forbid, on this side of the [Morris Houses] complex there are no lights, we’re going to have to troop [my mom] down the stairs [from the 15th floor], with my son that’s in a wheelchair,” Castillo said.
Shirley Sutton said she went to buy groceries and when she returned home, the elevators were out of service -- and she lives on the 14th floor.
“I can’t walk no 14 flights,” said Sutton. “I’m 80 years old. I’m a senior citizen. I can’t walk 14 flights. That’s too much for me.”
As of Friday night, a News 12 crew on scene witnessed power was restored to at least three buildings.
Con Ed said they expect to have power fully restored sometime in the overnight hours.