There WILL be light! ConEd promises to restore power to Manhattan by Friday... but everyone else will have to wait a WEEK

Infrastructure in America's largest city struggles to resume business after post-tropical storm causes damage

Homes damaged, streets flooded and city plunged into darkness, causing misery and chaos for millions of residents

Floodwater causes electrical substation to explode, causing power outages in Manhattan



Residents demand answers as officials remain vague over when New York can expect to get back on its feet

City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says 643,000 New Yorkers are without power

Mayor admits it could take up to five days to have the city's subway system fully running again, though limited service will begin Thursday at 6am

Governor Andrew Cuomo: 'It was as bad as anything I have experienced in New York'




Manhattan will be restored to full power by Friday at the earliest after Hurricane Sandy plunged the lower half of the island into darkness on Monday night.



The outages have been attributed to a huge explosion at an electrical substation close to the East River, which blew up when it was apparently overwhelmed by floodwater.

East and West Villages, Financial District, Chelsea, Chinatown and the Lower East Side will be up and running by the weekend, Con Edison said.

The island's wiring system is largely underground so workers have been able to asses and repair it faster than above ground wiring of the outer boroughs. Outages in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were not expected to be repaired for another week, the power company said.

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Cafe by candlelight: People have dinner by candlelight at the Cornellia Street Cafe in New York City as the power to much of lower Manhattan remains shut off Dark drive: A New York City policeman directs traffic with flashlights at 14th Street in Lower Manhattan as power remains knocked out after the Superstorm

ConEdison spokesperson Michael Clendenin told MailOnline this morning that New York and the surrounding areas will be shrouded in darkness for an unprecedented three to four more days.

The last time New York was this dark for this long was a blackout in the summer of 2003.

Mr Clendenin told MailOnline that the company has ‘thousands of workers on this, and hundreds of crews.’

To put the scope of Sandy in perspective, he said that over 100,000 primary electrical wires were down in the city and in nearby Westchester County, just north of New York.

First light: This stunning image of the Bowery in Downtown New York shows the city in a rare power blackout

The Flatiron Building: These pictures are from a series called NYC Unplugged by photographer Randy Scott Slavin

14th Street and Broadway: Slavin took to the streets in the early hours of Wednesday to document the eerie ambiance of the Big Apple with the lights switched off

He said that didn’t include the hundreds of thousands of other wires that were felled by the merciless winds and falling branches.

Mr Clendenin added: ‘We know it’s a very painful and trying experience (to be without power). We ask for people to be patient first and crews will get to the problem.’

The rippling affects of Sandy have hit not only the Northeast Corridor, but many parts of the Midwest. In Michigan, some 40,600 remain without power.

In Ohio, high winds knocked out power to more than 250,000 homes, though workers have since restored power to more than half of those affected.

Much of western Pennsylvania was badly hit, with as many as 1.2million without power.

A freak blizzard over Maryland and West Virginia left thousands more without power as ice and snow downed lines.

Across New York and Westchester, around 811,000 people were without power by Tuesday evening, with a staggering 7.9 million affected in total up and down the East Coast.

And almost a quarter of a million homes and businesses on Manhattan are without power - more than the total outages across Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx combined.

Halloween goes on: Residents make Jack O'Lanterns to celebrate Halloween on Hudson Street in lower Manhattan

Festivities do not fail: The light from Jack O'Lanterns is extra bright on Hudson Street, New York City because of the power outage

Blackout shopping: People shop at a grocery store as a portable generator keeps the lights running in Bleeker Street

Dinner by candlelight: Couples venture out after the storm to enjoy a meal by candlelight at the the Snack Tavern (right) and the Cornellia Street Cafe (left) in New York City





The blackout in the most populous and wealthiest of New York City's five boroughs is in stark contrast to Hurricane Irene last year, when Manhattan was largely spared power cuts that ravaged the surrounding region. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: 'We expected an unprecedented impact storm here in New York City and that's what we got. It was a devastating storm, maybe the worst we have ever experienced.' Speaking today, he said 643,000 New Yorkers are without power. He also admitted it could take up to five days to have the city's subway system fully running again, though limited service will begin Thursday at 6am.

11th St. and 2nd Ave: Randy says he 'felt the call' the take pictures of NYC under the shroud of darkness Of this collection, NYC Unplugged, Slavin adds: 'It is the night after NYC was decimated by Hurricane Sandy, downtown NYC is in the midst of a power outage that has plunged it into complete darkness' He added that other public transport has 'no timeline' but said he hoped buses would be open by Wednesday, and suggested roads would also be cleared for motorists by that time. ‘The damage is clearly extensive and would not be repaired overnight,’ he added. ‘Our first priority was and continues to be protecting lives.’ In a frightening development, Bloomberg added that Sandy has forced hospitals to close, including NYU downtown and the Veterans Affairs Hospital. NYU Langone and Coney Island hospitals have been evacuated, while Bellevue is running on backup power, he said. There have been no storm-related fatalities at these hospitals. Yet the mayor added that at least ten people have lost their lives in New York City in the hurricane, and officials expect the number will become higher as the full extent of the destruction becomes apparent. Twisted: The remains of a Hudson River marina are seen across from New York City Damage: The South Street Ferry subway station as well as ferry service remains shut down in the Financial District after Hurricane Sandy flooded the area Cloudy: A New York Air National Guard helicopter flies above the George Washington Bridge towards a gloomy looking Manhattan yesterday Blustery: This image shows Sixth Avenue following Hurricane Sandy Clean-up: A worker pushes water being pumped from the basement of a building on Wall Street toward a storm drain in New York City Helping out: New Yorkers in Lower Manhattan step out after Hurricane Sandy. People from The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space got creative by hooking up a generator to a bike to give them power Work to do: Thousands of gallons of water are pumped from the lower floors of a building on Wall Street as the city tries to recover from the effects of Hurricane Sandy Hard at work: President Barack Obama and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Craig Fugate walk from the White House to Marine One today One person lost their life when a tree crushed them as they slept in their bed, while a man stepped into a puddle and was electrocuted by a fallen power line in the water, Bloomberg said. Bloomberg added that officials have had more than 4,000 tree service requests and ordered people to stay away from parks. ‘I think people don’t understand just how strong nature is,’ he said. President Obama declared a major disaster in New York and Long Island, making federal funding available to residents of the area. He suspended campaigning again on Tuesday. ‘The President has given aggressive orders giving whatever it needs,’ Congressman Chuck Schumer said at the press conference, adding there is ‘no shortage of dollars’ for the aid. The vague details came as schools remained closed, the Stock Exchange empty, flights grounded and public transport at a standstill.

Fatalities: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pictured at the lectern, said at least 10 people were killed in the city as a result of Superstorm Sandy Black days: This general view from Exchange Place shows the skyline of lower Manhattan in darkness after a power outage caused by Superstorm Sandy Blackout: People are lit up from the lights of a fire truck in the lower East Side of New York after power was shut off during Superstorm Sandy. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has warned that some residents face being without electricity for days Already the storm, which smashed into the city on Monday evening, breaching the Hudson River, forcing floodwaters into Lower Manhattan and killing at least 10, is predicted to have caused a staggering $20billion worth of damage. Power lines ripped down by the howling wind and an unexplained explosion at the ConEd’s 14th Street plant plunged the city that never sleeps into darkness on Monday night. Blackouts stretch from 14th Street to the tip of Lower Manhattan – with the most extensive reported in the Financial District and Lower East Side. Without power, hospitals were without elevator services, meaning patients had to be carried down staircases, and the usually bustling streets of Lower Manhattan were eerie and silent – interrupted only by blaring sirens from emergency vehicles. John Miksad, senior vice president for electric operations at Consolidated Edison, suggested the power could be off for ‘several days to a week’. Darkness: Across New York, about 750,000 people were without power by Tuesday morning, Mayor Bloomberg said, with a staggering seven million affected in total up and down the East Coast Emergency: A power outage at New York University Tisch Hospital meant paramedics were forced to evacuate patients Evacuation: Hospital workers carry patient Deborah Dadlani from the NYU Langone Medical Center after back-up generators failed due to flooding, plunging the hospital into darkness Widespread problems: This map shows areas of New York which have been flooded and left without power ‘This will be one for the record books,’ Miksad said. ‘This will be the largest storm-related outage in our history.’ ConEd added that power was fully restored eight days after Hurricane Irene – but expected this could be much worse. Chaos ensued at the city’s three airports, although John F. Kennedy International Airport could open tomorrow. LaGuardia is expected to remain closed until further notice. Already more than 12,000 flights have been cancelled, with a backlog reaching into the tens of thousands. A predicted 50,000 travellers between the UK and US alone have been affected by the storm. Schools across the city will also remained closed tomorrow, while government employees have been encouraged to return to work, if it is safe. Out of the darkness: A rainbow crosses over Manhattan yesterday, as viewed from Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Only once the water has receded can the damage be assessed, a spokeswoman for the Wildlife Conservation Society said.

New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, kept residents updated with brief statements and tweets, revealing that the Tappan Zee Bridge and Lincoln Tunnel were opening.

He added at the press conference that subway passengers will not be charged to use buses after service resumes.

While failing to add more specifics about when New Yorkers could expect services to resume as normal, Governor Cuomo said that the city needs to assess how best to protect itself from increasing weather disasters.

'The construction of the city did not anticipate these kinds of situations,' he said on Albany radio. 'We are only a few feet above sea level. You now have a whole infrastructure under the city that fills. The subway system, the foundations of buildings.'

Bang: This explosion at an electricity substation on the east side of Manhattan lit up the famous cityscape

'We see a pop. The whole sky lights up,' said Dani Hart, 30, who was watching the storm from the roof of her apartment building.

'It sounded like the Fourth of July,' Stephen Weisbrot said from his 10th-floor apartment.

The explosion is likely to have been the result of flooding, given the proximity of the substation to the East River, but Con Ed officials have not ruled out the possibility that it was caused by flying debris.

The majority of houses, apartments and offices were left without any power at all, though most hospitals and some other buildings had access to emergency back-up generators.

However, the New York University Tisch Hospital saw its generator fail, leaving to the evacuation of 200 patients, including 20 babies in neonatal intensive care.

Dozens of ambulances lined up around the block, preparing to transport the patients to other hospitals around the city.

Without power, there were no elevators, meaning patients had to be carefully carried down the stairs to safety.

Con Ed officials said on Tuesday morning that they had begun the process of restoring power to those affected, with around 10 per cent of customers back on the grid.

However, they were unable to estimate how long it would take to complete the task of restoring electricity to Manhattan.

One spokesman for the company pointed out that it took eight days to recover from Hurricane Irene last year, and warned that the process would take longer this time around.

'We have to assess the damage,' a Con Ed spokesman told CBS New York. 'Now we have to get in there, get the salt water out, basically the dried salt, dry the equipment, test it and then make sure it's safe to restore the power.'

One worker estimated that it would take three or four days to restore power to those who had been subject to the first wave of blackouts, but could take longer for the victims of the substation explosion.

Many low-lying areas of New York City were still underwater on Tuesday morning, further slowing the recovery process.

'This is the largest storm-related outage in our history,' said Con Ed's senior vice president John Miksad.

Officials have warned the public to beware of downed power lines and other electrical equipment which could pose a hazard in the aftermath of the storm.

There are two principal causes of electricity failures during storms - downed power lines, and the flooding of underground cables and substations.

While some power lines were felled by Sandy, the majority of the damage in New York appears to have been caused by the flooding of the city's harbour.

Before power can be restored, underground equipment must be completely dried out and tested to ensure that it is not short-circuited by any water remaining in the system.

Saltwater is particularly problematic for power failures as it is a better conductor of electricity than freshwater, meaning that areas such as Manhattan which border the ocean are especially vulnerable.

