.bmp)
.bmp)
NEW YORK-A brutal heat wave that has temperatures nearing the century mark in the tri-state area has New York City utility officials ready to take action should a massive power outage occur for the second time this summer. Nearly two weeks ago, hundreds of thousands of Consolidated Edison customers lost power in Manhattan and the Bronx apparently due to a bolt of lightning, though the outage did occur on one of the hottest days of the year.Ever since a power outage in New York City brought thousands of residents and workers onto the streets in August of 2003, along with a series of power outages left thousands of Queens residents without power during some of the hottest days of last July, residents and Con Ed officials alike have been on edge as summer temperatures climb to dangerous levels.Earlier this year, the Public Service Commission issued a report on the power company's response to the outages last year and called it "unacceptable and a gross disservice to its customers." Con Ed officials are the first to admit what happened last year was unacceptable. A company spokesman told CBS 2 HD that necessary improvements have been made to prevent a repeat of the outages, including an overall system upgrade. "We're going to have new computers systems in place for our control room operators to actually get a better sense of how big an outage might be right away," Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin told CBS 2 on Monday.Still, with temperatures soaring into the mid-90s Monday and likely through Wednesday, officials are bracing for the worst."We could have small outages and we'll send crews out right away to get the power back on as quick as we can," Clendenin said. "A command post has also been launched in the city where top level engineers will be stationed should any kind of outages occur. To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
