posted 08-28-2003 03:07 PM            

Power outage strikes downtown Newark
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Circuit problem affects NJPAC, St. Michael's hospital and even PSE&G

Thursday, August 28, 2003

BY BARRY CARTER
Star-Ledger Staff

Three underground circuits that supply power to Newark's downtown went out of service yesterday, causing several office buildings, including headquarters of the state's public utility, to be without power for several hours.

The outage, which started about 6:30 a.m., affected 313 customers, but service began to be restored slowly around 9:17 a.m., according to Ralph LaRossa, vice president of electric delivery for Public Service Electric & Gas.

All but a dozen customers had service around 2 p.m., but LaRossa said the utility was urging them to conserve power.

The problems were unrelated to the Aug. 14 blackout that left tens of millions without power in Canada and much of the Northeast, LaRossa said.

Yesterday's power loss was confined to customers in various parts of downtown, including sections near and around Halsey Street, Central Avenue, Raymond Boulevard, Broad Street and University Avenue.

In addition to PSE&G, other businesses and institutions affected included the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, St. Michael's Medical Center, Broad Street train station, Rutgers University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

The root of yesterday's problem began Friday when one of the three circuits that feed power to the city failed, said Emma Byrne, a PSE&G spokeswoman.

The circuit was repaired and tested over the weekend, but when PSE&G brought the line back up between 4 and 4:30 a.m. yesterday, it caught fire and damaged a second circuit. The utility shut down a third circuit until it could safely bring back power to all customers, LaRossa said.

St. Michael's Medical Center was the first to lose power, although the hospital's backup generators kicked in when the main line went down around 6:30 a.m., said Tom Woodard, a hospital spokesman.

"When the city power goes out, the backup generators automatically kick in so there's no interruption," Woodard said.

At Rutgers University, spokeswoman Carla Capizzi said the power was out from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. at two residence halls, four academic buildings and the library.

She said classes were not in session and there were some students in the dorms.

The outage made registration and normal operations difficult at NJIT, because the building with the school's computer servers had no power, said NJIT Provost William C. VanBuskirk.

"With the computers down, we're having a difficult time of it. This is a bad time." VanBuskirk said.

Gil Nielsen, a spokesman for Newark-based IDT, a provider of Internet phone service, said the building lost power during the outage but it did not affect the company's telephone service. IDT began getting power back around 11:30 a.m., he said.

NJPAC had to close its telephone call center the public uses to order tickets for shows.

Ross Richards, vice president of operations and real estate, said the building in which the call center is located had no lights or air conditioning.

He said employees there were sent home around 12:30 p.m., but other areas of NJPAC remained open when power came back on around 9:30 a.m.

The city's Broad Street station lost power for about 3 1/2 hours during the morning rush, but emergency lighting helped passengers catch their trains on the Morris & Essex and Montclair-Boonton lines, NJ Transit spokesman Ken Miller said.

Barry Carter covers Newark. He can be reached at bcarter@starledger.com or (973) 392-1827.