MIDTOWN — Grand Central Terminal was plunged into darkness when a burst pipe flooded a transformer and knocked out power Monday morning, officials said.
"The lights went out. The power just went out. Boom! Everybody was looking around saying, 'There's no power,'" said Jerry Bocchino, 43, who works at Pescatore Seafood.
"We made sure we got the customers out. It's Grand Central. Things happen."
There wasn't any warning before the lights went out about 9:30 a.m., businesses in the area said.
"I was making a milkshake and everything just went pitch black. It happened so fast," said Brian Quintana, 20, who works at Shake Shack in the terminal's basement.
MTA spokesman Aaron Donova said a six-inch water pipe burst, sending 18 inches of water into a transformer vault and knocking out power to the Terminal and parts of the Eastside Access Project.
Food stalls and shops were told to lock up and go home for the day because of the outage.
Video shows sirens blaring in the terminal about 9:47 a.m.
Metro-North trains were running through the upper level of the terminal because of the outage, Donovan said. He did not immediately have further information.
He said power was partially restored in the afternoon.