New Yorkers Dealing With Hottest Day Of The Summer
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was the hottest day of the summer in New York City on Saturday.
CBS2's Vanessa Murdock reported the high was 96 degrees, but adding in the humidity, it felt like 110 outside.
And the Tri-State area is not expected to get a break from the heat for a couple of days, as the high is expected to be 95 on Sunday and 90 on Monday, which would continue the heat wave for five days.
CBS2's Murdock reported we start to get relief late Monday into Tuesday.
However, that can't come soon enough for New Yorkers who lost power, as there are more than 4,000 outages for New York City and Westchester County, according to Con Edison.
The heat is putting a big strain on the power supply.
In Jackson Heights, Queens, residents escaped their hot, dark homes and jammed into a city bus that had air conditioning on high, CBS2's Dave Carlin reported.
"I felt like as if I was getting suffocated by the heat," said Joshua Lovato.
In this and some other cases, it is believed overhead wires simply overheated and sparked.
On Utica Avenue in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, a melted power line next to a gas station came down sizzling, and without warning.
"I was opening the car door to take something out of the car and the wire just fell," said Christina Morrison of East Flatbush. "It just dropped -- just like that."
Families were struggling to deal with the heat around the corner from the East Flatbush gas station.
"There's no AC for me," said John Leger. "I fry like a chicken inside a stove."
Due to the oppressive heat, the city's public pools are staying open longer and the 500 cooling centers are open through Monday evening.
Since this heat can prove deadly, neighbors are urged to check in on anyone who might be suffering.
People are also being reminded to conserve electricity: turn off appliances when they are not needed, set air conditioners at 78 degrees or higher, and use energy-intensive appliances like dishwashers, washing machines and dryers late at night, or early in the morning.
Con Edison isn't the only power company reporting outages. JCP&L report more than 4,000 customers are without power; Orange and Rockland Counties with about 1,900; and PSEG Long Island said it has about 1,300 without outages.