BOREUM HILL, Brooklyn — Late Friday night, Boreum Hill residents found themselves in a flickering world. Nearby Park Slope residents experienced the same. Lights blinked, appliances sputtered, and routines were interrupted—turning ordinary weekend life into an unexpected exercise in patience.
“We started getting flickering on Friday night,” said Tosca DiMatteo, a resident near St. Marks Place. By the weekend, her kitchen lights were out while other rooms stayed on-and-off. Her oven quit mid-bake. Her fan gave up. Yet somehow the heat, hot water, and fridge still worked. Life, even in partial outages, keeps moving.
Across the neighborhood, the story was the same. By 10 p.m. Friday, roughly 480 customers were affected; by midday Sunday, that number climbed to 1,100, according to Con Edison. Snow-packed manholes and the mix of road salt and melting ice complicated repairs. This forced utility crews to work against both weather and gravity.
Residents got creative. “We have a gas stove. We can turn it on and make some eggs or something,” DiMatteo said. He embodied the blend of Brooklyn pragmatism and humor. For others, the impact hit deeper. Jane Reisman, visiting from Seattle, worried about her daughter-in-law’s breast milk during the outage. It was an unplanned crisis in the midst of life’s usual chaos.
To stabilize service, Con Edison brought in mobile generators. They also opened PS 133 as a warming center for those in need. But for the community, the weekend proved that even a few hours without full power can test patience. It showed resilience and resourcefulness. A few days without full power can transform a familiar neighborhood.
Because sometimes, the lights going out is just the universe asking: How creative can you be when life doesn’t cooperate?
by Jarvus Ricardo Hester