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San Francisco comes to a standstill as power outage hits nearly 100,000 causing traffic chaos, trapping residents in elevators and even halting the city's famous cable cars

By Reuters and Associated Press and Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com

Published: 15:18 EST, 21 April 2017 | Updated: 20:53 EST, 21 April 2017




A blackout left 95,000 without power in downtown San Francisco, trapping more than 20 people in elevators and causing traffic chaos on the same day New York's subway was crippled by a power outage.

The outages on either coast both occurred on Friday morning, throwing America's first and fifth largest rapid transit systems into disarray at the peak of the two cities' morning rush hours.

The power outage in San Francisco stalled work in the technology and finance center as a vast swath of the financial district lost electricity around 9am local time. Office workers spilled onto city streets in the heart of the business district, milling about as traffic snarled, since stoplights were not working.

An insulation fire at a PG&E substation at Larkin and Eddy streets is the reported cause of the outages. The fire has been contained and local media reports that PG&E hopes to restore power by 1pm for most customers.

The San Francisco Fire Department says it has responded to more than 100 calls for service since the blackout struck, including 20 calls for people stuck in elevators.
 Gridlock: A view on downtown San Francisco shows traffic at a standstill on Friday. Power outages knocked out traffic lights throughout the central and northern part of the city Tourists take pictures of an immobile cable car during a blackout in downtown San Francisco This map from internet service provider Monkeybrains shows the approximate blackout zone. The key in the top right refers to the number of client buildings in the zone without internet San Francisco fire department crews stand outside of an electric substation where a fire occurred, which might have caused the citywide power outage on Friday

Fire crews responded to the Larkin Street substation and vault, where smoke was seen billowing from the facility. Officials said the fire was the primary cause of the blackout.

California Pacific Medical Center was forced to close its operating room and switch to emergency backup power.

However, no injuries related to the blackout have been reported.




The Montgomery Street BART station was plunged into darkness and shut down due to the blackout.

Transit officials were able to connect a portable generator and restore power by about 11.30am, bringing the light rail station back online.

In the financial district, businesses closed their doors and posted signs saying they were closed without electricity.

The outage affected central and northern parts of the city, according to the city's Department of Emergency Management.

Gridlocked spread throughout the city, as traffic lights were out and cable cars were stuck idle on the pavement, unable to move. Patron sit in the dark at Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco on Friday. Nearly 100,000 people were left without power during a citywide blackout believed to be caused by a substation fire The Montgomery Bay Area Rapid Transit station was dark following a power outage Friday in San Francisco San Francisco: A fire truck at top left and other traffic try to make their way around a pair of idled cablecars on California Street after a large power outage Friday A San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officer directs traffic at an intersection with street lights out during a citywide power outage Office workers wait for building elevators to resume working during a power cut in downtown San Francisco. SFFD said it responded to 20 calls of workers stuck in elevators Friday

King Lip, chief investment officer at Baker Avenue Asset Management in San Francisco said his offices had been hit.

'It's pretty big, seems like half the city has no power. It´s a big deal. All our systems went down. We were in the middle of a trade, luckily we have cloud based software so all the trades are saved and we´re going to have our people in Texas or New York execute it,' he said.

The department adds there have been no delays in responding to calls.

Officials with the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management acknowledged the 'coincidence' of smaller outages in the Los Angeles airport and New York City subway on Friday, but said the San Francisco event was due to equipment failure. San Francisco: A sign informs customers that a restaurant is closed due to the power cut


In New York on Friday, the power went out around 7.30am local time at 53rd Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Service was suspended on the B and C lines and modified on five other lines, creating crowding and delays throughout the system.

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said some passengers were stranded on trains, and some cars were dark except for phone lights.

Some riders say their commutes took two or three hours. Stations were packed.

Generators restored some power by lunchtime. 'B'' and 'D'' service was inching back around 11:30 a.m. But residual delays continued.

The MTA repeatedly cited 'a Con Edison power issue.'

But utility spokesman Bob McGee said the cause hadn't been pinpointed and Con Edison isn't the only power source there. New York: People wait on the platform at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station as trains idle on Friday in Brooklyn. A power outage at a midtown Manhattan subway station caused widespread delays during the morning commute on Friday



New York City and San Francisco dual blackouts a mystery
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