as we reach the top of the hour, the mayor of new york, bill de blas blasio, is tweeting about all of this and mentioning the fire department and the city agencies are responding and trying to get this power outage fixed here in new york city. it was all due to a manhole fire that took place earlier this evening. the disruption is significant. and we do say good afternoon and good evening, everybody, if you're tuning in at 9:00 p.m. eastern. 6:00 p.m. on the west coast. a massive power outage that has taken place about 6:45 p.m. thousands of people are without power. we've been watching new york's times square where you can see to the left of the scene. many buildings are without power. they have not been restored of yet. con ed is telling us that full power will be restored by 10:30

p.m. eastern. the other big story is tropical storm barry. it is moving at eight miles an hour, slowly making its way me andiering through new orleans. it is dumping rain on ruining rouge biffle the time all of this is over, and that won't be very long. >> thank god they have ligts. we're getting people out of those elevators. so it is an emerging situation, i am told by the plarlt. checking in with our federal partners, we see no indication of foul play. very, very important. this appears to be a mechanical problem but it is early

information and we need to get more before we can get people a fuller picture. >> how long would it typically take. >> if people are stuck in an elevator, usually the fire department and police department can get them quickly out. we're waiting for information on how many elevators and how many people. we're talking about a very limited area geographically. i think we can act on it very quickly but the most important thing is to see where it is going overall. >> so you're not in new york city. >> i'll know in the next short while what you whatever the duration is expect to be and then i'll make that

derrellation. >> have there been any injuries reported? >> no, thank god. this is an e-americani americai. no reports so far. >> just stay tuned. very important. we'll know a lot more in the next hour or two. >> where's the best place to check for information? >> 311. our city website. there is the notify nyc. all media will be put out. >> there you have it. mayor bill de blasio is a presidential candidate. he's been in touch with the new york city management crews and the new york police department and fire department as well as con edison and they are working to restore power here to new

york city. as the sun has set, it has been fascinating to watch this picture of times square. have you haven't seen this, we're looking north. there is a hotel. it used to be a sheraton times square. there areal many broadway suppose would be playing out just to the left of that screen with people who have come into new york city on this july day to see hamilton and so many other shows. those are in the dark as a result of all of this. there are people dealing with it as far as 21st street including our producer adam reese who is

joining us. you're not too far from lincoln center. walk us through it. >> i'm right across the street from lincoln center. i'm going to swing the camera around. we've seen it go from light to dusk to now almost pitch black on the upper west side of manhattan. you see a lot of police vehicles, people walking around. this would typically be a busy upper west side. typically these restaurants would be filled with customers. people eating outside.

right now they're pretty much elliot. they're having fun with it all. they're sitting outside with some lamps and having some drinks. traffic seem to be moving. volunteering. directing traffic. again, you're seeing lots of police and fire activity out here on the streets on the upper west side. people going about their business of i did see people with lamps and flashlights of pretty much every building as far as i can tell. all the way down to time warner center. people seem to be out of power. they might have emergency generators. we've seen lots of buses. this one that you're seeing now not in service.

many buses coming north have been packed. the safest way to get around this evening is on a surface bus. there you see a fire truck. we're seeing lots of fire trucks going to buildings. helping people out. there might have been people stuck in elevators. it is that kind of thing. so far people taking in it stride here on the upper west side. >> not much of a choice here on a warm evening in new york city. >> this is a live picture on the left-hand side. this is the upper west side of manhattan. normally these streets would be parked with people and vehicles and the streets would be absolutely lit up. i believe i know that march area. lincoln center would be about a block south of where you're pointing your camera at and they would be having some performances as well. to the bottom right of the

screen. it is barely recognizable. our building here, it is filled with meant of shops. the top of the rock is very popular and would be on a night like this with thousands of tourists going to the top to look at the landscape and the skyline. the marquis shut down. dark. this is being streamed on facebook right now. back to adam right there. i do know we have a lot of emergency officials who have been out there on the streets. a lot of people are still trapped. have you gotten a sense of whether the subways are still shut down? have they shut down the stops? >> i'm not sure. i did hear people going down with their flashlights looking

to see if the subway was running. that's not clear. i can tell that you the buses are running and they are packed. people using surface transportation just to keep it safe. not taking any chances. we see a bus coming up here. coming up broadway and it is just packed. people looking to get hole. le people have not been through a blackout before. we were here 20 years ago. the first thing we noticed 20 years ago was when the street lights went out. then we knew something was wrong. that's what happened this evening when the street lights went out. phone calls were being made. and soon enough, people realized that there were buildings and whole areas of the upper west side without power. here you see this bus coming

out. take a look at that bus. just packed as people make their way home during the blackout. >> i know that bus very well. it goes straight to the upper west side. >> people are probably looking at this and saying it is coastal. you have thousands of people, possibly hundreds of thousands without power. there are many, many people we're told who are trapped on subways, trapped in elevators. you have a lot of elderly people who may not be with any sort of help right now. so this is going on more than two hours. con edison is saying the lights will be back on at 10:30 eastern time.

it doesn't appear as if it is getting back on any time soon. let's me bring in jonathan dienst from wnbc. i know you've been here a long time. you've weathered many a situation like this. you are here in 2003. very early to compare any situation but what happens when you have something like this thank city this big? >> well, the police department and fire department flood the zone in terms of trying to make sure everyone remains calm and safe. to give you an idea, you see the 41,000 customers. manhattan has a population, from the 40s through 90s, you're talking about a population of over 200,000 people.

that is not to say the entire area the affected by the blackout. it goes to 72nd street. but it gives you an idea of the number of people impacted. my colleague confirmed what i had heard regarding the mta. there's no one reported stuck on any trains but the trains on many of the west side stations are not running at this hour. and you hear about the buses being packed. the port authority bus terminal, a major entry point for commuters coming from new jersey. that's operational. buses coming from building in are running normal as of now. but the elevators and escalators are not working. they do have back-up power for lighting but that's an example of what's going on in the major

knows in new york. from the west side to the river, you're looking at apartment building, apartment building, business after business without power unless they have generators. again, all this appears to have been caused as a result of a manhole explosion and transformer fire. there were two instances. as a result, there is no power no, lights in many buildings at many intersections on the west side of manhattan impacting tens of thousands of people. >> as we look at 30 rockefeller plaza, i can't help but think, we hope everybody is safe but this will be an expensive blackout. fifth avenue. many of those shops. as we look ahead, that's fifth

avenue. normally you would be looking at saks fifth avenue. many are shut down much less the restaurants, hotels impacted by this. >> it depends how long this goes on. if con ed can get a lot back up by 10:30, the economic impact will be -- it will take its toll on some business buzz it will be a one day, one evening event. the bigger question is that everyone is calm and safe. it is making sure the intersections remain open and safe and anyone trapped in an elevator is rescued quickly and as they go building to building,

once they get in, the fire department is very good at getting people out. but helping people when they don't have much clarity on it. to paint a picture of the time of situations that emergency personnel are dealing with. it is having a large impact. those are live cameras. the lighting situation, it's not because we're not very good at lighting. that's just how new york city looks right now. you see emergency officials making their way through those are the only lights that we've been seeing over the last couple hours.

let's go to kurt. where are you? >> reporter: hey, cheers from the darkened warwick hotel about three and a half blocks from 30 rock. >> the entire hotel is dark? >> reporter: i'll tell you. it was kind of eerie. i got in from d.c. literally 45 seconds arrest i walked off the elevator to my floor, the power went out. at first you think this is just an isolated incident. is it the room? the floor? then you start realizing that it is much bigger than that. then you sbrun the long it is particularal challenges. people are trying to figure out how to get into the stair cases. you have a lot of elderly people. people with luggage, baggage. it is an entire sequence you never think about. it has 36 stories, more than 400

rooms. has the busy saturday. no doubt they were at 90, 95% occupancy. the lights go out and you have people trapped at the 36th floor. that is just one hotel. they may or may not have back-up elevators. >> you saw it. i think ths that question. what is it? is it temporary? and then the practical situation. it's warm out. there is no air conditioning. how will people get from point a to point b? how will people eat? you saw a lot of the restaurants surrounding the area. they're not able to service anyone. people saying, we can't serve beverages. we can't cook anything.

it is an entire conundrum. maybe you take an uber or a cab? the street lights are out. it really becomes a complete logistical nightmare. whether you're a tourist or a restaurant or trying to get around on a saturday night in new york city. people are trying to figure out, how do they get any information? it's not like they can turn on the tv when there's no power. >> yeah. i appreciate you being there and giving us that perspective. my colleague is joining me here in studio. patiently waiting for me. you know what? we bring you into the conversation. i want to show you a fascinating photo from the new jersey side of the hudson that kind of, i believe, captures what is going

on here. you see all the lights. the blue sphere, i believe, is battery park and south. 42nd street. that's the divide. on the left is the upper west side. we're familiar with the former trump buildings, the apartment buildings, in the dark. >> where that happened, there are people currently stuck in the elevator. he said there's no indication of foul play. this is a mechanical issue. and you think, i'm not sure how long you've been in new york. he was speaking to the hearts of new yorkers. i'm not sure how many text messages you got. this is foul may. that was men to put new yorkers at ease. as we see the dna of the city change. people in manhattan were inventioned. but knowing that this is limited

to a specific geographical area is an important thing to remember. the fire department is also saying that they're asking people to only call if there is an emergency because they've had a spike in the volume coming through. they've asked people to avoid those low lying areas. i know you were outside of the studio. what is it looking like? are you now seeing lights come on slowly again? >> reporter: unfortunately no, lights just yet. right behind me is radio city music hall. you can see the whole building is still dark right now. typically this building would be glowing. specially iconic sign that says radio city. you can see this is a busy saturday night. a lot of these folks are tourists. we had a couple of chances.

a group of young girls, thousands of children who were singing and they were about to perform when the lights went out. head to streak building. they said the concert kind of won't impromptu outside. these are the stories that we're hearing as we come across some of these folks who kind of come through our live shot. they're sharing stories about things that have gone awry. a lot of these shows have been canceled as well. a lot of them had plans to go see the shows but now they don't know what they're going to do with their tickets. they're walking around explore.

we're seeing it monitoring the situation there was a street fair so the barricades are up. this is tourist central. folks are kind of enjoying there city. there are a lot of restaurants. a lot of stores that would still be open at this hour. people are passing the time in other ways. seeing the city in the dark. people are saying this is the first time in new york city for they will but they're still enjoying a nice evening out. we were told that. >> go ahead. >> it is interesting how people are coming together. we're seeing on social media these powerful images of people outside carnegie hall. to people jumping in to help direct traffic. >> exactly. these are ladies and gentlemen outside operating for example the local food stand and they're

getting in and helping direct traffic and pitching in. so thank you for staying on that situation. i want to turn to our executive producer, dan. >> take a look at that picture. this is a live picture from earth camp. and you can see how much, what part of the city right there is in darkness. times square right in the middle of it. >> it is powerful. you can see the spire lit up with everything around it completely in black. can you tell us where you were when the explosion happened? >> reporter: yes. [ inaudible ]. >> you're breaking up. you said you were at 43rd? is that correct? i think we're losing dan. we're losing dan. hopefully we'll get him back.

it sounds like he was in midtown where he lost some power. tell us what you're seeing. it caused so many people to get on their mobile devices so the service in midtown, manhattan. you won't be getting a lot of service. through south of midtown, you have people helping each other out. it has been a relatively light atmosphere. certainly concerns about security at a hotel that i'm staying at. three individuals have been stuck in elevators. the new york fire department immediately on the scene. two people have been extracted. they have a third person they're getting out.

you see people hoping that it comes back on later tonight. for now, it is strange to see sole people moving about, striking up conversations. certainly, a big change as you come from midtown and the lights do come back on. i believe 30 something street. so we're tracking that as well. >> and you mentioned the could have been edison said they are attempting to get it back on by 10:30. >> that would be four hours after the lights went out. for people tuning in, as you watch this blackout taking place now, in its third hour here in new york city, wrap your head around the fact on this very day in 1977 was a massive, massive blackout that took out many,

many, many millions of new yorkers including in the burroughs. the upper west side is a place largely impacted by this. this is a 1977 picture. it when the lights went out for well over a day. adam is joining us again on the upper west side. i know you were walking near lincoln center. no doubt going to be the scene of plenty of popular shows. we're watching your live pictures right now. i would not be able to tell who is in front of me based on those images right now. are those people with candles? >> reporter: we are at 70th street. we've made our way up from 63rd street. this is a cafe where people are having wine. they're doing the best they can. what i want to show you is something really interesting. we're making our way north. we're on columbus avenue. we're going to go from daric to

light. there's power. everything south of 77th street is without power. we talked about the economic impact of something like this. we've seen how easily it can happen. we talked about the economic impact. all the restaurants and shops up and down broadway. we're concerned about people who may be stuck in elevators and the safety of elderly people. but this is a saturday night in the middle of summer. dark south of 71st street where the blackout is during. and now these people continuing on. it is completely light. power is on. the buildings have power. we don't see a lot of ambulance, police, fire activity here because this area is not affected. but if we look south, pitch

black. lots of police activity. lots of fire activity. 63rd street. buses coming north. packed. people don't want to take a chance with the subway. people taking pictures, walking out. they cannot believe it. we haven't had a blackout like this in 20 years. it started when the street lights went out. that's when you know something is wrong. people were helping with traffic. volunteers. people helping out. making the traffic flow and this is what you see. pitch black south of 71st street. come over here to 72nd street looking north. we have power. >> it's wild. >> to be clear, the power outage, according to the fire department in new york city, said it extended east to west from fifth avenue to hudson river and then north to south from the 40th to 72nd street.

so he's right there at the edge of it. >> 72nd street is a major, major thorough fare and clearly it is the divide. i'm schurrle people did not plan to have a candlelight dinner. it is not typical of this time of year or any time of year that times square or manhattan would have as few lights as you're looking at right now. >> especially on a saturday night. building have back-up generators but a lot of these other businesses do not have

generators, including st. luke's hospital does have a generator. but that hotel we were talking about does not. as we come up here, 9:30 eastern time in new york. as well as out west at 6:30 in the evening. here's what we're following. there has been a major blackout. no other way to put it. major blackout here in manhattan, midtown and upper west side of new york city. con edison, the utility company, says they are working feverishly to restore power by 10:30 eastern time. the impact, tens of thousands of customers are impacted. but that could mean hundreds of thousands of people in new york city are impacted. and so are so many broadway shows that have shut down for the night as a result. >> and they're asking people to

be very cautious. they're asking people to avoid the subways. you see parts that are completely blacked out. and the fire department is asking people to not call 911 if there is an absolute emergency. they've seen a spike in the number of calls and they want to get to those people who need them with priority. and they're mentioning the transportation department. they're mentioning there's limited service but have no doubt, the entire system has been affected by the ongoing power outage. they also wanted to mention, no customers were evacuated via the roadbed. no people were trapped and people had to get out of the trains and walk along the railroad bed. and important to say there have been no injuries reported.

all have been safely able to detrain. >> let's bring in jonathan dienst. tell us what you're seeing. >> reporter: i just spoke with a high ranking inning official who says hundreds of thousands of officers were deployed out on to the streets to handle major intersections. to stand in front of major retailers and businesses to make sure there is no danger. that explains some of the deployment that's going on. and governor cuomo just put out a statement saying he is telling the police to step up, to provide assistance to people. and he's called for an investigation into what caused

this. so that's some news from the governor's office. he also confirms at this hour, no passengers stranded on any subways or trains. or in mta elevators west heard from the fire department that they were responding to multiple calls about people trapped in elevators. we're waiting to hear from the fire department on that. this appears to be the result of some sort of trans former fire. it unclear from my law enforcement and fire department people when the power will officially come back on.

we're being told that they are planning to do a press conference within the hour. about 64th street and the west end. one of the sites that is problematic. we're told there were two locations that led to the problems. 49 street and 64th street. we are expecting a news conference at 64th street to provide an update as to what happened and when, customers on the west side of manhattan will see the lights come back on. >> as we wait to their news conference, walk us through what your nypd law enforcement sources are telling you. what is their biggest concern. >> the concern is that everyone remains calm.

to han any eventuality. it is an enormous at of resources and personnel they can call upon and they have. and they've deployed hundreds of officers to these intersections across the west side in manhattan to make sure people are safe. the fire department has resources and they are responding to people who are stuck. they were able to get people out and to the subways so they were all evacuated safely. it paints the pictures of the type of coordinated response. they trained for these eventualities and now they're putting it into practice in terms of getting people safe. you can see the live picture there. the number of police cars dispatched to times square. to have the visible presence for

security, for guidance, to help with traffic flow. and you see the traffic is moving despite many of the street lights and traffic lights being out at this hour. >> as we continue to look at the times square pictures, we've seen times square go from being clogged to just really clogged. and it is at that point where trafficwise, a lot of people who were going to shows are on the streets. bill de blasio is campaigning in waterloo, iowa. he's been tweeting. he said the blackout is confirmed that there is no foul play. this was a mechanical issue. the mayor of new york said moments ago, that this blackout between west 42nd street and 72nd street, from the hudson river to fifth avenue. some page parts, has been

confirmed by the nypd. no foul may but a mechanical issue. the fire department currently responding to people with most urge end needs. especially those stuck in elevators. one of our reportes embedded in iowa, i know you just spoke with the mayor moments ago. he addressed the cameras whafrlt did he have to say? >> he told us that he is in iowa campaigning. he told us that there was an electrical fire. no foul play. it is unknown if there are any injuries. but he said it is a little early to tell. 911 was getting overwhelmed with phone calls. he was asked a number of times. he said right now he'll sit and wait it out for another hour. get more details. he did plan to be in cedar rapids at a campaign event tomorrow.

that was on the schedule. unknown if he will go do that. he said call 311 for people who need anything. if they're stuck torsion call 311. >> it was interesting that we heard the mayor say this is a mechanical issue. it sounded like he doesn't want new yorkers to worry. he talked about the commercial zone in terms of times square but it is a deeply residential area. especially in the northern part. there are so many young families there. >> i live on the upper west side and i'm still not doing the strollers of yet. we'll hold off on that. i was looking at twitter and i

know we have the video that we'll get in there. there was a major concert expected to happen at madison square garden today with jennifer lopez. that was taking place at 32nd street. about ten blocks south of where the power outage started. it appears the lights went out. we're going to continue to look at all the of that. >> there were several shows completely shut down. we thought the concert would continue as is. >> it is a big home coming for jennifer lopez. you can imagine if there is any sort of delay, any sort of problem. it is because this is a significant power outage and it is a really rae big deal. it looked fairly packed even at

this early hour. we'll see if the show does go on. >> we'll keep our eyes on it. you can see on the left-hand side of the screen, it mostly dark. especially in the northern side of the story. we've seen a lot of the hospitals have been disrupt. people have been traptd inside the elevators. they're losing food and money. it has been a deep impact for the city. it is typically a very prosperous saturday night. >> as we continue to look at this, and we see the numbers have ticked up a little bit to 45,000 customers, which can be hundreds of thousands of people. we do want to keep note of the other big story that we have

been watching. the tropical storm at one point, hurricane barry. packing winds of 60 miles per hour. it has not moved in the two hours or so that i have been here. it is basically running at eight miles per hour north northwest of the you can just look at that feeder bed of moisture coming from the northern gulf of mexico right now. some of them containing some lightning and thunderstorms as well. hitting the baton rouge area as well as new orleans. we have to keep track of this situation as well. >> special when i the moisture. it sounds like the winds were less threatening than people were anticipating. >> it is the important thing. as we pan to the right, i want to show you that this storm will be with us for a long time. by monday afternoon, it is barely there in the arkansas area and just south of

tennessee. sunday morning, it will still be packing 50-mile-an-hour winds and making its way to, a, a, tennessee, st. louis, and the northeast expects to have some rain by the middle of next week. the mississippi river did not need this. it is already above flood stage and has been since february of this year. which kind of help out the army corps of engineers in getting ready for the storm. every day now, they've been out there on the levees, making sure that there were no leaks, no problems. and they said the levees have held up so far. >> they've been preparing. >> we've continued to keep an eye on that as well as the situation in new york city. i believe there is a statement i got from governor cuomo in new york. he has directed darrel of public service to investigate the power outage in midtown, manhattan. i'll read this to you.

a widespread blackout occurred as a result of an issue with the transmission line in midtown manhattan. leaving approximately 45,000 customers without power. the power out ans disrupt subway service on several lines. no passengers stranded. no injuries at this time. >> i think it is important, the end of the statement. he said the fact that it happened at all is unacceptable. he is talking about the fact that there are no injuries. he is trying to respond to this in real-time. >> the system is broken? that the grid is in trouble? >> there's certainly some concern. that's strong language. he is saying this should never have happened in the first place. let's turn to christina. she works at msnbc. i've been following you on social media. it sounds like you've been in the thick of things.

>> yeah. i was getting toward put my son to sleep. when we looked outside, it was still light out. it wasn't super scary. it was just awkward and weird. as the sun started going down, it was probably one of the creamiest things i've ever experienced and still kind of is. obviously, all the lights are out. the only lights are headlights. and fire engine lights and police lights, which there have been a ton of fire trucks. i've never seen so many fire trucks go down and i'm on sixth avenue in midtown. just one after another after another. i've noticed city buses packed to the gills with people. one after another after another. it is creepy. the ice cream trucks are out.

>> have you ever experienced anything like this before? >> never. i was here for sandy. hurricane sandy it was only thing that i can compare it to. >> it feels like you nailed it when you said it was awkward, weird, creepy. those of us that work in the area, that's what we felt. what did you think was happening? >> well, you obviously, when it first happened, you think the worst. so i was grateful and relieved to hear that it was a transform per blew. i got a text message saying power would be restored to my building in about 15 minutes. so keep my fingers crossed. you just always think the worst.

and then the sun went down. it was even more disturbing. especially when you start reading about what happened 42 years ago. you worry, my wife was walking home from dinner and she stopped for ice. and people were arguing over bags of ice. she could feel the tension when she was walking home. so i'm glad she's home with us. >> i think it is that tension and that fear you described. because you know, i've been in new york for eight years. and you almost don't want to say it but it is the way your gut drops. and you wonder, i'm from the south as you are, too. sometimes i'm wondering. is my family home understand yg this is a big deal to us? this can seem like to some, that's a new york story. when we see the dna of our city and country change, especially

since 9/11. we hold our breath and we wonder, why is this happening? that's the answer we want to get to the quickest. you are from new york. that's something that we've all been on twitter. what is this? is this an attack? what kind of went through your mind? >> i'm from new york. i saw the buildings come down. i was in the northeast during super storm sandy and i was here for the 2003 as well. the blackout. so i've lived through a number of these big moments in new york city. one telling thing about a blackout. as well as it stays safe, it is weirdly one of those unifying things for communities. where you get to know your neighbors. >> christina, we hope your wife

gets home safely. >> she is. she made it home. >> throws the good stories we want to hear. so thank you for taking time out of your day. >> and thank you for keeping us informed. >> all right. i appreciate it. i want to bring in our contributor. i just saw moments ago in new york city, you're weathering this with us? is joyce on the line? >> yes. i'm here. >> so where are you? what's the situation where you are? >> i'm fortunate. i'm in a hotel that has air conditioning. when the lights went out, i was at dinner. by the time i made it back to 30 rock, as you know, there was no power at all at 30 rock. a strange feeling to have it be completely dark inside of that building. my hotel, i was staying in a hotel at 54th and sixth. no power which meant no light

inside of the building. no air conditioning. people were walking up a series of very steep stairs. i was talking on a bellman who has gone up 30 flights of stairs to try to check with people to make sure they were doing okay. as i went further up the stairs, it was sweltering. >> you're not a new yorker. you're from the south. and there are a lot of people probably wonderering and watching why we're continuing coverage of this, why should people in other parts of the country care about this? we know that it is an alarming thing. many are in danger because they're trying to get down from top floors here and might be trapped. why should somebody from alabama, as you are, care? >> the irony is that i expect to hear about power out aages on t

gulf coast. power outages are nothing out of the ordinary. but of course, in new york, when something like this happens. when you see recording on twitter from the fire department that they're battling twitter that the fire department is battling a fire, you have to hope for the best that you also have to be @lert to the possibility in this post 9/11 world that there is something worse at play. so i think for new yorkers who are out lining the streets as i moved from hotel to hotel, i saw older people sitting on folding chairs outside of what appeared to be their apartment buildings and a bride who was outside of the hotel crying that her wedding in the morning would be ruined. you see people with these very personal stories. but i think that there is also a larger apprehension for people who live in the city wondering if it's happening again. >> it's interesting you talk about, you know, you hope for the best. and as christina heard, she said we fear the worst. and it's almost like we use

these euphemisms because we don't want to even name it. >> we don't even really want to name that fear. and partly because as journalists and as reporters, that's not the story, right? that's not what's happening. but it is the reality of the fear that belies some of that concern, especially for a lot people the city. so i think, joyce, you kind of name what did that feeling is so eloquently. and of course our hearts go out to people like that bride you mentioned to who are inconvenienced in a way that's important to them. >> and, joyce in the meantime -- go ahead, joyce. >> who will end up with wonderful stories to tell once everything is over. so you hope that that's the silver lining and that people won't be hurt that everyone who's stuck in elevators will get out safely. i can't ever remember seeing so many ambulances out on street corners in new york as i moved through mid-town. >> christina said she never heard that many sirens or that many ambulances.

>> and hopefully the people who are inside are doing okay. >> we just got word that the mayor of new york, bill de blasio, is on his way back to new york per his press secretary. he has cut short his campaign stop there in waterloo, iowa, where he's been campaigning over the weekend and has decided to come back to new york. correct me if i'm wrong because i've been staring at that picture there in times square. i do not recall the sign there on the gap in the lower right-hand side of the msnbc bug being lit up. >> i don't remember. >> if we can lose a bug for just, like, a hot second, all of a sudden we have the gap. so, perhaps, there are signs that new york city might be coming back to life. >> we are expecting it to come back to life hopefully within the next half-hour per their reports.

smjt other very important notes right now, nypd mentioning within the last few minutes that they plan to have extra officers sent out and deploying them to intersections all throughout manhattan and outside some major retailers for safety and security reasons. and that really, joyce, is an important thing right there. while it's all good right now and everybody's hanging out and meeting their neighbors and it's kumbaya, they do want to make sure that this remains safe. >> it was, i think, encouraging to people to see that law enforcement was out in force. there was no indication that ambulances were actually treating patients. it seems clear that these were heads-up precautionary measures. and the crowds, as you walked, for instance, down 6th avenue were very good-natured were, very orderly. it was obviously getting hot. but people seem to be still in that cooperative spirit, as you

mentioned, this moment where something like a blackout can bring a community together. >> i'll tell you something else that can bring a community together is a j.lo concert and there was one that was planned here in new york city. >> jenny from the block. >> the 6 train is working. the acd and a whole lot of lines, the one, two, and three. here's a clip from what took place moments ago at the jennifer lopez concert at madison square garden. we will try to roll it. >> please leave the building. please go to the nearest exit. please proceed calmly and quietly while exiting the building. thank you for your cooperation. please do it orderly. thank you. >> can you imagine -- >> i cannot. that looks like pandemonium. >> they evacuated madison square garden moments before jennifer lopez was about to hitd the

stage. nobody would've thought that area would be impacted. >> which is where we would expect this would be the southernmost tip of this blackout. >> i do believe we have on the phone right now who was there at that concert. can you hear me? did i botch your name? >> just the last one, but the first one is the part that counts. i actually just left madison square garden. >> what happened? >> well, j.lo came on, stunned all of us, and then some dancers came on, they were doing their thing. the lights went out. they kept dancing. credit to them. and then the lights stayed off. everyone stopped. j.lo came out sort of motioned everyone to sit down. and then we got an announcement that said "for your safety it is time to leave madison square garden." and as soon as i heard that, just made a bee line for the door. i'm six months pregnant so i wasn't trying to wait for everybody else to get out. and everyone was very orderly making their way to the door

very purposefully. but i've just never seen anything like that. i've never seen that many people try to get out of a couple of doors before. >> help me through this because the power outage, as you guys know when you're going into this concert venue, was not supposed to affect madison square garden where this is taking place. >> no. >> so during the concert, they had some sort of power hit and the lights went out on stage and elsewhere? >> yes. so i knew that the subway had gone out, and that was fine. we had walked over to madison square garden to avoid the traffic. a couple of songs, like, we want on. we had no idea that there would be any power -- like anything affecting the show. it was really two or three songs in where the lights very suddenly just went out. and they did a really great job of very quickly and promptly telling everyone it was time to go. >> what went through your mind when you saw this happen? >> just that it was time to leave. i'm pretty mission-oriented so i

was, like, where is the exit? walk towards the stairs, get out. >> were most people aware that there had been a power outage north of where you had been located by this point? >> no. there was a lot of "what's happening?" "what's going on?" "was there a fire?" there were some people sitting in their seats. they really wanted j.lo to keep going. there were other people going "oh, the fire's in the building," kind of rumor-mongering. but i think most of the people went towards the exit and made a beeline. >> i'm sure at some point. madison square garden can fit more than 20,000 people for a concert of this size. >> and it was full. >> and i can imagine. it's a homecoming for jennifer lopez. she has a few dates here in town. mentioned also new york police department saying that all of the shows, and we know by now,

all of the broadway shows have been shut down because of this power outage. were there fire department officials outside of there? once you walked outside of madison square garden, did it seem like the power outage had extended to that particular area as well? >> it did look like it was immediately outside of madison on 31st and 8th there were three fire department trucks. there were also a number of security officers from madison square garden doing their job to make sure everyone was getting out safely. there did look to be an increasing presence, which was a surprised to me because i thought that all of the situation was further uptown. >> pretty interesting situation there. >> it is, wow. we're glad that you're safe and we're sorry that you missed j.lo. >> but prompts on walking while six months pregnant at the concert, you're like i'm not

having it at the subway. good luck with the baby and i hope they make a pick-update for the baby. i was noting earlier that also another big concert had to be canceled. this one being in new orleans because of the tropical storm, the rolling stones were expected to play there, but they have now moved their concert to monday. but kind of interesting is mcjagger and crew are in new orleans and weathering the storm as those several inches of rain. >> tropical storm barry. >> kind of dumped a few inches of rain. the boys have said that they will play to the crowd and honor the tickets again on monday when they play at the dome. but you can see where the storm is right now. it made landfall just about midday here on central time there in lower louisiana and has slowly moved its way up north.

but that is the problem for a lot of people. we are hitting the top of the hour. i should mention that the power outage in new york city has now reached well past three hours. here at msnbc along with morgan radford, we've been watching a number of different breaking news situations right now. the big news that we're getting here as we talk to you here at 10:00 p.m. we are now told at least 90,000 customers have been affected by this massive blackout here in new york city. when we first came on air several hours ago and they said that it was only about 20,000 customers, i knew that number was wrong, just based on the sheer topography. you have more than two square miles in new york city where people are in the dark. now we're being told by con edison officials that 90,000 customers which coun