Superstorm Sandy pummeled the southern border of Manhattan and triggered an explosion at a Consolidated Edison substation in East Village which knocked out power for approximately 670,000 customers.
This morning, New York's Mayor Bloomberg announced that 750,000 people have no power. The New York Post reports that a number of "data centers and phone-companies facilities in the Wall Street area were forced to switch to diesel generators." The publication notes that Gawker, Huffington Post, and other blogs were offline for several hours.
According to the Huffington Post, the ConEd explosion took placed on at 9 p.m. on 14th Street "near the bank of the East River." Some of Verizon's nodes were also flooded, knocking out internet and phone service.
While it may take some time for power to return and public transportation to return to normal, New York Governor Cuomo recently announced that limited bus service will is now in effect, and full restoration is expected on Wednesday. Fares will be waved for both Tuesday and Wednesday, and buses will be using a Sunday schedule.
President Barack Obama has called off his campaign stops in Ohio to respond to Sandy, and will head to New Jersey to survey the damage with Governor Chris Christie. In a statement, the White House said, "The President will remain in Washington, DC on Wednesday to monitor the response to Hurricane Sandy and ensure that all available federal resources continue to be provided to support ongoing state and local recovery efforts. As a result, the President will not participate in the campaign events that had been scheduled in Ohio tomorrow."
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