NY1 VIDEO: A massive blackout on July 7, 1999 left more than 200,000 Washington Heights residents without power. The outage came in the middle of a heat wave, only adding to the misery. NY1's Annika Pergament filed the following report on July 8, 1999.
NY1 FOLLOW-UP: A scathing report by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer later concluded that Con Edison was responsible for the blackout because it failed to heed the effect the heat had on its power cables. It also said Con Ed failed to recognize the scope of the blackout and did not act quickly enough to restore power.