>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. you are live in the "cnn newsroom" i'm alex marquardt in washington, d.c. taking over for ana cabrera. it is breaking news right now on cnn. and great news for the people living in and visiting new york city on this summer weekend. a power outage that plunged much of manhattan into darkness a few hours ago is gradually, fingers crossed, coming to an end. the building lights are coming back on. the streetlights also coming back on. the power company, con edison, which runs the electric grids, are hopeful that most of their new york city customers will have power once again restored by midnight eastern time. that is in one hour from now. police officials and coned engineers say the blackout was caused by a fire that happened inside a manhole. and despite the widespread

subway outages and traffic chaos as well as general confusion that ensued, officials are reporting that no injuries or other significant emergencies happened. the best news for new york city on this hot july saturday night is the power is coming back on, as you can see with those pictures and the empire state building. for more, cnn's brian stelter has been on the ground for us and he's in columbus circle. for those not familiar with new york, brian, that's at the south side of central park. you are in the only power network where power has not yet been restored. what are you seeing there now? >> reporter: that's right. that's why there are police officers behind us here directing traffic, because these traffic lights are still out. this part of the city, this neighborhood, really, of manhattan is still without power at 11:00 p.m. eastern. you can see some of the crossing guard workers behind us here. yet life still goes on in the big city, right, alex? you still have the ice cream trucks and the hot dog vendors.

these buildings on central park south are still without power. the new york athletic club, for example, lights out in these buildings. some of these are hotels, some of are high-rise rental buildings, some high rise apartment buildings, a wide varied here. that's one of the reasons this is such a newsworthy story, one of the biggest cities in the world suddenly blacked out at 6:45 p.m. eastern time. i was in my apartment, 15-plus stories up. i noticed something was amiss, the air conditioner turned off, and i looked outside and saw this wasn't one building or one block but an entire stretch in manhattan, from times square to rockefeller center and later to madison square garden and penn station. virtually all of midtown manhattan from fifth avenue over to 12th avenue on the hudson river. an incredibly rare event, the kind of thing most new yorkers take in stride but also wonder what the heck is going on.

it's just an inconvenience for most people but in the back of your mind you always worry about something more nefarious. so far all the evidence is to the contrary. con ed is getting to the bottom of it. the most interesting sight, as a resident tonight, alex, looking down from up in a high-rise building, hoping not to have to use the stairs or anything, looking at all the people walking by on their cellphones as it was getting dark, they were like little fireflies because now a blackout in a cellphone age, a social media age, means people did at least have flashlights for a little while. power has been restored to five of the six parts of manhattan that lost power. we're in the one part of the city that still does not have power. as you mentioned, authorities are hoping to have that back online by midnight. >> and brian, you are in one of the most trafficked parts of the city. moments ago we saw one of those horses go behind you, tourists using those to ride through

central park. it is incredible for me as a former resident of new york to think of this happening right where you are. we've seen people walking behind you, still clearly quite happy. what is the mood chaotic at all. what are people telling you? >> reporter: i would say it's a mixed mood. most people are taking this in stride but we still have emergency vehicles driving by and the sound of sigrens has ben the main sound in the last few hours. things have become for normal on central park south in the last hour because other areas are regaining electricity, traffic is back, cars are driving in greater numbers, and tourists are starting to head back to where they were earlier. for a few hours this part of the city did get quiet except for the whistles of crossing guards

at intersections. and firefighters helping people out of elevators. that's one of the scariest things for people, to be up on the 40th floor and have the elevator suddenly stop. so fire officials were very busy at first, trying to make sure everybody was accounted for. in some of these apartment buildings they've been handing out flashlights and glow sticks. for most individuals, an inconvenience. but for an elderly resident not able to get down 20 flights of stairs, it's a more serious matter. it's rare to see a blackout of the commercial zone of the city. it's a reminder how fragile the grid can be. >> absolutely right. brian, those are important point. this is obviously an extremely serious incident. so far new york officials have said that there have been no injuries and so far, indications of no nefariousness. you are in one of few remaining parts of the city that has yet to get its power back. we hope you and those around you

get that back soon. brian stelter in columbus circle, thanks very much. we'll head closer to times square, further south, where we find polo sandoval who has been speaking with tourists in new york city, getting impressions on how it's impacting their night and their visit. polo, what are they telling you? >> reporter: alex, to give you some perspective, we're a couple of blocks from our friend brian who is in columbus circle. i can see times square, the billboards that were dark are now lit up. we're keeping our eye on this stretch of seventh avenue. it really is eerie when you look down this stretch, there are some buildings that have been lit up but much is still dark. i've talked to people from as far as europe, parts of the middle east, who have come here, even as far as ohio, such as you. diane, welcome, you're live with cnn. i want you it total us a little bit about what it's been like for you and your husband for the last few hours as you take all

of this in. >> well, we're actually sitting at sheridan and waiting for the electricity to go on so that we can get up to our room which is up on the 49th floor, so we don't want to go up there yet. some people are going up, like on the generators, but i don't want to do that. >> reporter: ultimately, if you make your way up there, what would you do? you've mentioned the water's running but not much else. >> they've told us there's no electricity up there, no air conditioning. the water is running. >> reporter: what brought you to new york? >> our oldest daughter lives here and our youngestson want s youngest son wanted to come visit her. >> reporter: this was a vacation, you guys splurged to get a roomier accommodation. >> $30 more to get up on the

49th floor to have a king side bed. i shouldn't have done it. >> reporter: had you not splurged, you would have been on the second floor. thank you for keeping your spirits so high, good luck to you and your husband and you do win the prize for the highest floor we've spoken to, 49. good luck to you, thank you, ma'am, good luck tonight. you heard it there, alex, spirits are certainly high. people are hopeful the power will be restored very soon. yes, as they look up around them, they see pour lighmore li are going on on, a sign they could be next. they're certainly keeping their fingers crossed and spirits high in this part of manhattan. >> polo, it is remarkable how happy people have remained despite a wrench really thrown in the works of their vacations. but clearly happy that the power is slowly coming back on. polo sandoval near times square. >> reporter: once they find out that nobody got hurt, it certainly changes things for them. >> absolutely. so far, officials are saying no

one has been hurt. polo sandoval near times square, thank you very much. as polo mentioned, the power is slowly coming back on. we're hearing from new yorkers what it was like during those hours that the power was out. take a quick listen. >> i was on the sixth floor. we lost power very quickly. my understanding is that there's a wire underneath our building, 101 west end, that caused the transformer to explode, and that explosion caused a blackout. >> reporter: tell me about the glow stick. >> you like the glow stick? the safety of our building, high tech, they gave us glow sticks to go down the stairwell. >> enterprising rescue item there, glow sticks handed out to new york city residents. joining me is cnn's alexandra field. alex, you were driving through the streets of new york, i

understand, as the power went out. of course we hope that you and your nerves are okay. what were you seeing as you drove through those darkened streets? >> reporter: alex, i'm in the back seat, so that's a good vantage point to be in. frankly it just requires a lot of patience from everyone. we were making our way from lower manhattan up 10th avenue. traffic lights are back on, traffic is starting to move. we're still seeing a number of office buildings and residential buildings with power out. it was an hour and 20 minutes to get from lower manhattan to midtown, bumper to bumper traffic. we were certainly seeing people who had poured out of their buildings, standing on their street corners, trying to figure out what's going on, hoping their lights will come back on, that the air conditioning was going to come back on on a hot night in new york city.

people were asking us what was going on on, what was causing the chaos. we did definitely see a number of emergency vehicles, alex, that seemed to be moving into position across the west side of manhattan, fire trucks and police cars certainly being deployed on the city and state level, fanning out to help where needed and if needed. they were trying to make their way through the traffic. i can tell you, it wasn't a lot of chaos, just a heavy amount of traffic. we saw more and more lights come on farther north, relief for people wondering if they would have to make it through the night without power, if they would have to go down a lot of stairs and spend the night elsewhere. certainly we also saw police officers trying to get a handle on the heavy traffic by diverting cars. we were diverted to the west side highway for a while. lights are back on on the west

side highway, traffic moving along there, one way to try to ease congestion. we're seeing more and more buildings lit up this evening. >> alex, how were the drivers coping with the lights being out? who is helping direct traffic? i heard anecdotally that new yorkers themselves, civilians, were going out in the streets. we heard governor cuomo tell our colleague ana cabrera that he would be using the national guard for traffic control. have you seen them? who was actually directing the traffic? >> reporter: i have not seen guardsmen and women at this point. i did see police officers and fire trucks out. i saw others in vests. i don't know if it's a great idea for people in manhattan to get out and start directing traffic. i think everyone had the best of intentions. alex, you've been in new york city, traffic jams galore, it

can be an unpleasant place to be. we weren't hearing much of the symphony of horns that you often here. i was south of the lincoln tunnel for half an hour. people seemed to be keeping their heads, having patience, keep their cool. at that point people had heard word of the power outage and knew that if they were out in their cars, they were in for a bit of a night. people are relieved at the traffic lights being back on. for the most part people are remaining pretty calm. they've been through power outages before. this is certainly widespread, certainly the kind of thing that can be very much of a struggle if you're in a high floor or in a car. but absolutely, we're talking about a matter of hours now, we're seeing a lot of the power restored, that's a very positive sign for many. >> all right, alexandra field there in new york, thankfully

you are safe and as you said, everything seemed to have gone quite smoothly. and that seems to be the good news item out of all of this, that no one has been injured, that there was no chaos, that both drivers and people on the street managed this quite calmly and went about their business waiting for the power to come back on. con edison, the power company of new york, now saying that the number of people who are still without power is 16,000. that is down from a far higher number. so slowly, gradually, the power coming back on in new york. we're going to take a quick break. we'll have more news right after this. ein recharge leave-in conditioner. our heat protecting formula, leaves hair 15-times stronger. ♪ in just 1 use elvive revives damaged hair.

the hope is to have everyone restored, they say, between midnight and 2:00 a.m. eastern time. it is now 11:15 on the east coast. for many new yorkers, the power outage brought scary moments when elevators across much of the city stopped working and people got stuck inside. this is what that looked like inside the knickerbocker hotel on 42nd street and broadway, right after the power outage. you can see those firefighters there working to rescue people who were stuck in the elevator at that hotel after the power went out. there was another incredible scene across town. i want to show you this moment from madison square garden where jennifer lopez was set to perform for excited concertgoers, obviously a hard ticket to get. then the power went out. all those lights, you can see there, those are the emergency lights in the garden. and this is what it looks like

for jennifer lopez herself, this is what she posted. >> hi, guys, so we're backstage. they just told me to get offstage. i was waiting there, obviously all the power went out in the city and obviously here at madison square garden while we were in the middle of our show. actually we have just started our show. they're asking everybody to evacuate, very slowly and calmly and that's what we're going to have to do. obviously we're going to reschedule this show. there's the alarm going off telling everybody and the announcements to evacuate. i am obviously heartbroken and devastated. here we go. >> citywide power outage. we're going to interrupt this event. >> very sad. >> in the interests of safety, we are requesting that all occupants leave the building. >> i love you. i am so sorry that this happened in the middle of our moment, this time.

i'm going to get back to you guys as soon as i can with when we're going to reschedule the show. >> jennifer lopez saying she's going to reschedule her show there. as parts of the city, manhattan specifically, start to get their power back, restaurants, shops, tourist attractions, they were all forced to close during this power outage. during the blackout, one of the most iconic new york, broadway, was forced to cancel shows, on a saturday night when you have visitors from across the country and all around the world there to specifically go see those broadway shows. and in that video there you can see hundreds of disappointed ticket holders pouring into the streets outside as the sun was setting, as the power went out. but those cancellations cannot stop one group of actors from performing. [ singing ]

so that is an amazing moment from the cast of the broadway musical "come from away," along with others from other theaters, their show was canceled so they took it outside. >> people are in a little bit of a rush to get to work and stuff. >> all right. for more i want to bring in cnn's brian stelter. he's been at columbus circle all night. brian, we spoke to you moments ago, the power is still out where you are. the power has been coming on gradual, con edison said just moments ago 16,000 people, down from 72,000, are still without power. where you are, the power just came back on? >> reporter: alex, did i lose

you? a fire truck just went by, i couldn't hear you. we are out here on central park south and the power has come back on in the last ten minutes, you can tell it's much breyer out here than it was before. this is seventh avenue and central park south. the police officers are letting the traffic lights do their jobs. we can see the lights in the nearby hotels and nearby apartment buildings all coming back to normal. this is a relatively happy resolution for the locals and the tourists who have been awaiting this. we heard from july manni willia new york city's public advocate. when i was out here about 11:05,

lights came back on, there were cheers from the people that are on the streets, by carnegie hall, over at columbus circle there were cheers by the mall at time warner center when the lights went on back there as well. i can look to times square and see the billboards coming back on line, the 2019 sign coming back online. this is reminiscent in some ways of hurricane sandy where the southern half of manhattan lost power, but of course that went on for many days. thankfully today's outage only lasted four or five hours. at this point, alex, i'm interested in the people in louisiana and the gulf coast who are without power, hopefully they'll have the lights back almost as quickly as midtown manhattan.

my ifb cut out, alex, so i'll throw it back to you. this neighborhood is back to normal just after 11:00 p.m. eastern time. >> our thanks to brian stelter, great news for him and the residents of the city. con edison, the power company, is saying that now some 16,000 people, new yorkers, are without power. that is down from 72,000. that is the good news. the lights are coming back on. we're going to take a quick break. we'll have more after that. of savings and service. whoa. travis in it made it. it's amazing. oh is that travis's app? it's pretty cool, isn't it? there's two of them. they're multiplying. no, guys, its me. see, i'm real. i'm real! he thinks he's real. geico. over 75 years of savings and service.

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we're staying on top of the situation in manhattan where power is gradually being restored after that blackout. but of course we don't want to lose track what's happening farther south with tropical storm barry. cnn's derek van dam has the latest for us. derek, in the weather center, we're hearing the governor of louisiana is saying the worst is still to come. >> that's correct, alex. in fact it's important that people and residents of louisiana don't let their guard down, because the bands of heavy rain have not yet moved onshore for most locations. mobile, alabama, had a band of and there produced six inches of rain earlier this evening. that has since moved on. there were tornado warnings in

and around the area, that's ended, but the worst is still to come. this storm has been anything but typical to forecast. it was very uncharacteristic features of a tropical system. and it's been quite challenging for meteorologists. this counterclockwise circulation is taking in dry air and keeping the heavy rain offshore. we're talking about 15, 20 miles off the louisiana coast where the heaviest rain bands currently sit. the center of circulation eventually needs to move inland, that's the direction it's traveling. and with it, it will bring the heaviest rainfall. 50 miles per hour sustained winds is the latest information. when we get a lot of this rain overnight, it's going to saturate the soils. with 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts, you have the potential to bring down trees and power

lines. the latest radar across the area, heavy rain bands just offshore from morgan city, new orleans, a few scattered raindrops at the moment, but it's not over yet. when you're looking at observed rainfall, the heaviest rain has been in alabama. but it is still coming. we still anticipate some significant impacts across this area. staying off the roads is your best bet tonight and sunday, as the moisture gets drawn in from the gulf of mexico and moves up the mississippi river valley. some of the bands will be drawn in as the center of tropical storm barry moves across louisiana. we are, we have a 250-mile stretch from the coastline of the gulf of mexico to the border of oregarkansas. the storm is moving so incredibly slow, that will help enhance the potential for flooding. a high risk of flash flooding

for lake charles and the baton rouge area. look how far the moderate risk stretches, into tennessee. memphis, you have the potential for significant rainfall as well, the flooding there exacerbated by the weeks and weeks of heavy rainfall we've had so far in the early summer. >> and this is not going to necessarily be a storm and wind event because of the potential danger, it was always going to be a water event, the storm surge, the rivers, the rain, that was going to do the most damage. derek van dam in the weather center, thanks for breaking that down for us. most people of course try to avoid severe weather. joining me now is aaron jayjack who heads straight into it, he's an extreme storm chaser. he's in louisiana. aaron, we've been following you on twitter this evening. you've shown trees coming down,

power poles falling down all over the place. we know the storm itself has slowed. but of course there is this huge potential for danger when it comes to the water. what is it like right now and what are you seeing? >> so i've been in morgan city, louisiana for pretty much the entire day here. i was up on the levy earlier taking a look at the water. the surge has come up here along the coast in louisiana. as you mentioned, the storm is slowly moving to the north. the center of rotation is to the north right now. but the big rain is still just south of us off the coast. and i don't know if you can see in my shot here but it's just started raining again here. but the winds have weakened. we don't have strong winds anymore. i expect this rain to continue to increase and cause a threat here in louisiana through the evening and into tomorrow. >> and aaron, you shot some incredible video, specifically that video that you shot in the

marina that shows the boats cinching. describe that scene for us. >> that's actually just down the road here from higher ground here at the hampton hotel. just down the road there's a levy system that keeps the water back. they had left one of the floodgates open so i was able to get in there and look around. yeah, you can see in the video the boats start to take on water. i hopped into a boat with the local officials here, the city that i'm in, and they have a ferry there. they were worried about the ferry sinking or getting stuck on land because it had moved in with the surge and the wind and the chain that holds that boat was keeping it locked up on the land there, they were afraid as the land recedes, the boat could get stuck. i jumped on the boat with them to try to get it out. >> this isn't your first rodeo, you were really in the thick of things, we understand, during hurricane harvey in texas a couple of years ago. i understand you rescued

somebody's dog. how many hurricanes is this for you? >> i've lost track of hurricanes. it's probably at least, you know, a couple of dozen hurricanes and tropical storms and whatnot. i've been in a lot of cat 4, cat 5 hurricanes. this one has actually been a little bit more laid back, if you will, for a hurricane. the winds are a little white li. i'm used to power poles down every, trees down everywhere. the power has been out since 3:00 in the morning. outside of that, it hasn't been into intense. but as you said, trees are coming down and it's wise to stay indoors. it doesn't take much as these older, weaker trees get water logged, they can get brought down by the lightest of winds. >> aaron jayjack, you are an experienced hand but we hope you

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lots of breaking news tonight. right now we're focused on the breaking news out of the gulf coast. all of louisiana, parts of texas and mississippi being hammered right now by the storm that was hurricane barry. for more let's get inside the storm zone for a look at the conditions on the ground as they were, as they have been. cnn's randi kaye is in baton rouge. nick watt is in lafayette. >> reporter: the good news, the levies at the mississippi in new orleans did not break. the flood surge is over. but barry is far from over. the mayor of new orleans warning there is still a flood risk. and there is still a flood risk for huge chunks of louisiana. now, that storm surge, as barry came ashore, they have already had partial evacuations of four counties or parishes, as they call them in louisiana, down on the coast. they've had trouble getting

people out before the water swept over one of the main highways down there. further inland here, we're still waiting for the real problem that barry brings, which is the rain. now, saturday evening, barry's eye was onshore. barry's eye is in fact not far from where we are now. but the bulk of the storm, the bulk of the rain, that is still offshore and will move slowly into louisiana and mississippi. barry is moving just a little bit more than a walking pace right now. and it is all this rain that is going to cause problems over the coming days. 3,000 national guard fanned out across the state to help emergency responders deal with the situation. here where we are in lafayette, this could be the problem. the vermillion river was running at about 3 1/2 feet saturday morning. by sunday morning, it could be up to 15 feet. that is what they're watching here in lafayette. nick watt, cnn, lafayette, louisiana.

>> reporter: the situation here in baton rouge does seem to be deteriorating. the wind are kicking up, certainly gusting. we're here on the banks of the mississippi river. we're just outside the bell casino. we've seen whitecaps in the river which is already high from recent flooding. you can see the trees are blowing pretty strongly and also dipping into the water. and some of the water here is coming up on the edge of the steps, much closer to us. but this is a real concern. the main concern in baton rouge isn't so much the wind, even though it is strong. it's the water, because in 2016, just a few years ago, they had a pretty major depression that hung around and sat over this area and dropped about a foot and a half of rainwater. and those people are still struggling to get through that. i spoke to one woman who has been living in a fema trailer for three years, another woman

who just moved back in her home and now has evacuated again because of this storm. right now we know the national guard is here. they have high water vehicles because they're expecting so much rain and flooding here in baton rouge. they're hoping to get to folks who may be trapped in their homes. they've had public works teams out all day today checking the drainage systems all around the city to make sure this water has somewhere to go. the problem is, is that the gulf is pushing the wind and water up this way. and this water coming down from the rain doesn't really have anywhere to go. so they're very concerned about surging and flooding here in this area. they do have the shelters open. while they are urging people to stay home and shelter in place, if they do leave, they're allowed to bring their pets with them to the shelters here because they don't want them just to stay home if it is dangerous just because of their animals. so certainly some conditions to be concerned about here in baton rouge. the latest from here is that

it's windy and rainy. and the worst really could be yet to come as the rain and the storm hits this area. this is randi kaye reporting, cnn, baton rouge. >> our thanks to randi kaye and to nick watt in louisiana. we'll take a quick break and on the other side go back to our breaking news out of manhattan on that blackout. actually we will not be taking a break. what you're seeing right now are live scenes in manhattan, after the widespread manhattan blackout that lasted for hours. the power has been coming slowly back on. this is the head of con edison, the power company, and governor andrew cuomo. we'll listen in. >> we experienced a significant electrical disturbance on the west side of manhattan. eventually it resulted in the loss of 73,000 customers. we divide the electrical system

into networks. they're roughly equipment to neighbors. we lost six of the networks on our electric system. i'm happy to report that as of a few minutes ago, all six networks and all 73,000 customers have been restored. we'll be continuing to work through the evening to reestablish full reliability of our system and then most importantly, to identify exactly what caused this disturbance. our reference to date has been focused more on restoration and isolation of potentially faulty equipment than it has been on understanding exactly what occurred. that's going to start right now. >> reporter: so everybody's back on now? >> all customers are restored. >> reporter: mr. mcavoy, the governor put out a statement tonight saying whatever the explanation, this is unacceptable. >> first, that's good news that we heard from con ed. i just flew over the city, and

most of the lights are back on, that's clear. it's also clear that not all of the lights are back on. there are a lot of traffic signals that are out. still, the roads are chaotic. so we would not encourage new yorkers to go out if you don't have to go out. let all the power get back on. let's stabilize the situation, because it is chaotic now on the west side, certainly. i want to commend all the emergency workers who did a fantastic job. the nypd, the state police, the state power officials, all the emergency workers. this could have been much worse. when you're talking about a city like new york with a significant piece of the city, basically suffering a blackout, that could be a very chaotic situation.

we saw the exact opposite, actually. we saw new yorkers at their best. we saw new yorkers helping other new yorkers, stories of new yorkers getting out and managing traffic at intersections, new yorkers helping neighbors, new yorkers bringing neighbors who had medical devices that needed power to places where they could get power. so i applaud all new yorkers, when things are at their worst, new yorkers are at their best. and they were at their best tonight. as i said, job one is restore the power, get it up and running, and make sure that's 100%. job two is finding out exactly what happened. i'm going to go with mr. mcavoy and we're going to look at the first transformer that blew tonight. we have to make sure the system is designed in a way that this does not happen. when you are talking about a

blackout or a potential blackout or significant area of the city having a blackout, you are really dealing with potential chaos and public safety threats. and the system has to be better than that, period. period. and we're going to work with con ed. but that's what new yorkers deserve and that's what new yorkers will get. >> reporter: there's been a lot of discussion in the country about our aging infrastructure. do you believe that could have played a role in this and how would you address that when dealing with the electric grid? >> this is not going to be a question, i believe, of aging infrastructure. con ed routinely upgrades their equipment, changes their equipment. the maintenance level is very high. con ed is a utility, but people pay for their power. and that funding goes to con ed, and con ed, one of their

missions is to make sure the system is always 100% operational, all the backups are in place, the best design is in place. so if one substation fails, you don't have a domino of other substations. this is not the first time that i've been with mr. mcavoy going to look at a substation that failed, right? i've seen this movie. and the system has to be designed in a way that one substation can fail but it doesn't domino, it didn't ripple, and we have to have a system that has redundancy and has backups. we were lucky tonight, and again, the emergency workers did a great job, but we don't have any reports of people stuck on subway trains. that could have very well happened. people could be stuck in elevators, people could be in hospitals or nursing homes that don't have backup generators. so this is a potentially very dangerous situation.

and we have to make sure it doesn't happen again. and the system is designed in such a way that it doesn't happen again. >> reporter: are you saying anything to new yorkers tonight, should they keep their power down, should they not use as much? is there anything like that, potential for future problems? >> con ed has said it was not a load issue. we're not in the summer months. there wasn't a high use of air conditioners. it was basically a fairly quiet weekend night in new york city, anyway. i would say stay off the roads. there are many traffic lights that are still out. and that is pandemonium. even with new yorkers at their best, and they have been, it is still chaotic. and until the system is up 100%, it's late at night, stay in, go to sleep, but let the system become fully operational before you venture out. >> reporter: to clarify, the

power is completely available? the power is completely available, just to clarify that everything's back on? >> that's correct, all the networks, all the power supplies to the customers that was interrupted have been restored. >> reporter: in some of the traffic lights are still out? >> i'm not familiar with the condition of the traffic lights. it's not unusual that some buildings may have to reset equipment to restore service. but the supply to our customers has been restored. >> reporter: is con ed telling people anything they need to worry about tonight, tomorrow, should people be worried about any particular problems? >> no. no. we will be working to establish the normal levels of reliability. we are not advising customers or asking them to use power any differently than they normaly would. as the governor said, we do not have any indication that this was a load or a power usage issue. >> reporter: governor, have you

been given any update as to what caused the explosion in the area? because there are residents who say just before the power outage they heard a sound of explosion and they don't believe any manhole [ inaudible ] updates? >> no. look, we'll look at the transformers. is it possible that a transformer, quote unquote, blew? yes. or a piece of electrical equipment blew and made a noise, that's possible. but when we go back now and do an analysis of the system and what failed, we'll have a better answer. >> reporter: i think there's still a question, the vicinity of this happened. >> really, it is not difficult. we knew what areas were lost and i believe we communicated well, what the parameters were, what the boundaries of the outages were. it changed over time. eerybody didn't all lose power

at 6:47 because some items became overloaded and we had to take action to shut off power to other customers to prevent equipment failures. but over that period of time, we knew very well . >> do you know at this point is there anything that would indicate a risk to any part of the network in the days ahead or moving forward? or do you consider this already a one-off? >> we have nothing to indicate that. this that being said, we have not done the analysis that will identify exactly what caused this. so you can't exclude that until you know what the conditions were that caused this. >> our goal has to be -- i spoke to mr. mcavoy in the past. we're going to look at the system itself. we have to have a system that is designed to handle disruptions, and rather than domino, we have a redundancy in the system so

this doesn't happen. you can't have a power of this magnitude in this city. it is too dangerous. the potential for public safety risk and chaos is too high. we just can't have a system that doesn't. it's that simple at the end of the day. and that's what we're going to work on. i want to see with my own queens devise transform to see the transformer that started it all. thank you. >> new york governor andrew cuomo right there briefing reporters and the public as well as john mcavoy, the ceo of con edison, the power company. the headline there that all of the power has been restored in manhattan. the 73,000 customers according to mcavoy, they have gotten their power back. that is the positive headline from con edison. the governor of new york, andrew

cuomo, not necessarily as positive. he had already said that this was not acceptable. he says the system has to work. you simply cannot have a power outage in a city like this. you cannot have an event like this happen. he says the investigation into exactly what happened will be launched right away. the governor also saying that despite the fact that all the power is back, that there are some lights that are still out in buildings and streetlights. he actually called the situation chaotic. he said there was pandemonium, he called on new yorkers despite the fact that the power is back to still stay in their homes. he encouraged them to go to bed, to stay off the streets and not go out if they don't have to. he said the situation is resolved, but it has been

dangerous, and it could have been much worse. i want to bring in paolo in midtown. you heard the governor there and, of course, many people were listening to him because they're out and about. he said people should stay inside. he used words pandemonium, chaos. is that what you're seeing? despite the fact that people may not have heard his message, do you think that people are heeding it themselves? are they going inside themselves? are they deciding that now is not the time to be out on the streets? >> reporter: i can tell you that it certainly was the opposite, at least what we saw close to times square. it almost set in stages. at first it was disbelief and amazement of what was happening. but we were getting reports

there was no foul play involved, we found out what's behind i, and people began to sort of keep their spirits high, even make light of it. now that the power is back up, we're hearing those stories from those people who were affected, including members of the millennial choir and orchestra. elena, thank you for chatting with us. you were going to perform tonight at the machkt carnegie hall. you were on stage and the lights went out. what was that like? >> at first i thought it was light that was tracking and then all of a sudden the emergency lights came on and i looked over to my friends and i'm like is this part of what's supposed to have been happening for our performance? and then people started coming out and saying we need to go outside and evacuate you. and we're like, what is going

on? and so we started to go out. we waited there for a while. and then my professors came up. we started singing our songs for everyone on the street standing on blocks. >> you and the rest of the members had your moment. >> it was amazing. it was just -- everyone was there. people stopped and started taking video. it was amazing. >> it wasn't carnegie, but you were on the streets of manhattan and you were essentially serenading the entire city? >> yeah. i mean, i was very disappointed at first. and then i realized this is a once in a life and death thitim. so we are part of carnegie hall's histe now. >> reporter: thank you so much for taking the time. thank you for keeping your spirits high and for keeping

your calm along with the rest of the members of the choir and the orchestra and serenading us for a few brief moments. congratulations. you made it to new york one way or another, right? >> yeah, >> reporter: safe travels back to orange county. alex, one of many examples of people making the best of the situation. they couldn't perform on the famous stage of carnegie hall that was the scene of performances from billy holiday to duke ellington, but they had their moment, even if it was a dark manhattan street. the lights are back on. back to you. >> thanks very much for your reporting throughout this evening. thanks to all of our other correspondents who sprang to during this breaking news. many questions still to be answered. for now, that will do it for me. i'm alex marquardt. up next, the cnn original series "the movies." they take us back to the '80s. have a good night.

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