Manhole Fire Leaves Dozens In Astoria Without Power

ASTORIA, QUEENS — At least 70 Astoria residents suddenly lost power about midnight Tuesday after flames erupted from a nearby manhole, officials said.

The manhole fire started just before midnight on 37th Street just north of 28th Avenue, according to an FDNY spokesperson.

The fire left 74 customers along 37th Street without power, a Con Edison spokesperson said, adding that the cause was likely normal wear-and-tear.

Con Ed crews restored power to the area by Wednesday afternoon.

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One Astoria resident said on Twitter that she woke up to an explosion outside her building, then discovered her power was out.

Woke up to an explosion outside my building on 37th street in #Astoria. Lost all power, unclear exactly what’s happening from up here and too afraid to go near where the fire was. Neighbor said it’s a manhole fire. Nonetheless, very impressed with #FDNY response time. pic.twitter.com/sjwm3f2DAN
— maddy perkins (@perkedit) July 31, 2019

The actual number of people affected is likely higher, since Con Ed tallies the number of customers — not residents — when reporting outages.

Click here to file a reimbursement claim with Con Ed for any food or medication that went bad during the outage.