Power outages return in Co-Op City hours after being restored

Power outages returned in Co-Op City Friday night, hours after electricity had been restored.

News 12 Staff

Mar 2, 2021, 12:28 PM

Updated 1,383 days ago

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Power outages returned in Co-Op City Friday night, hours after electricity had been restored.
Generators helped keep the power running for the tenants of eight buildings after a transformer blew Friday in one of the buildings and an explosion caused a fire in the basement.
Power was then restored for Saturday, but went out again on Sunday. Co-op City police are attempting to avoid another outage, tweeting that: “We are closing the laundry room and taking one elevator in each bank out of service in Buildings 1-8. Residents in Section One buildings and town houses are asked to reduce energy in their apartments.”
Executive General Manager of Riverbay Corporation Bob Klehammer, who runs the energy for the area, says it takes six hour to hook generators up, which makes restoring power more complicated.
According to census data, the average age of people living in the parts of the borough affected is 55, and many are senior citizens are not being able to use elevators.
On Friday, a 75-year-old woman died when police tell News 12 she was trying to climb the stairs with her oxygen tank.
Police are investigating whether the power outage is to blame.