NEW YORK — Power should be restored to most of Manhattan by midnight Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced.
Con Edison should have power restored to some parts of the borough by Friday afternoon, and the mayor said the utility hopes to have most of Manhattan back online by midnight.
Bloomberg also cautioned that two networks in Lower Manhattan could take a little longer to restore as the utility works to ensure that power is not turned on at buildings with damaged electrical systems, for fear of fires.
As of Friday afternoon, some 460,000 ConEd customers were without power in the city, with about half those in Manhattan.
The Long Island Power Authority listed more than 33,600 customers as still without power in The Rockaways, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy.
At an earlier press briefing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo piled pressure on Con Edison and LIPA, saying he intends to hold the utilities accountable in restoring power as soon as possible to all areas affected by Hurricane Sandy as the city approaches day four of widespread power outages.
“I want the people of the utilities to understand that this is a crisis situation,” Cuomo said during a press briefing Friday morning. “I’m going to hold these utilities accountable. And I do believe, in the past, they have not been held accountable.”
The governor did not elaborate on what those specific past failings may have been. A spokesperson for Cuomo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During his briefing, Cuomo also asked for the utilities to make sure that the outer boroughs are not forgotten in the mad dash to restore power.
“ConEd said they are going to have power up in Downtown Manhattan. I hope that's true,” Cuomo said.
“I grew up in a place called Queens. There's a place called Staten Island. There's a place called Westchester,” he added. “I'm going to remind them every day — maybe twice a day, now that I think about it.”