As New York baked under another summer heat wave, parts of the Riverdale neighborhood in the Bronx, home to a large Jewish community, lost power after Con Edison shut off electricity to protect its equipment.
Con Edison announced the outages Thursday, saying it temporarily cut power to some customers in Riverdale to reduce strain on the electrical grid and speed up service restoration. The utility directed affected residents to report outages and seek relief at city cooling centers.
The outages left parts of Riverdale sweating without air conditioning during a dangerous citywide heat wave. The timing also puts intense pressure on Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The Democratic Socialist ran on promises to protect ordinary New Yorkers, but a neighborhood-wide shutdown like this directly undercuts that message. As the Bronx neighborhood lost power, preparations continued across town for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden.
The couple is set to marry Friday after hosting a rehearsal dinner Thursday night at the arena’s Infosys Theater. About 1,000 guests are expected to attend the wedding, with the reception scheduled to continue into the early hours of Saturday.
Earlier Friday, Mamdani urged New Yorkers to set their thermostats to 78 degrees, turn off unused lights and electronics, and reduce electricity use as the city faced high demand during the heatwave.
