WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. August 2, 2006: With the 11 o'clock temperature 88 degrees with 66% humidity (very icky)  a sweltering, fetid sweat sock of a night shrouds the county seat in stifling misery for those without power. A resident of Reynal Park reports that about 25% of her neighborhood is without power at this time, having gone out sometime between 8 P.M. and 10 P.M. She says she knows persons checking into hotels because they cannot stand the heat.

Joy Farber of Con Edison Media Relations reports to WPCNR as of 11 P.M. there are 746 customers without power in White Plains, in the  6,561 Westchester County residents without electricity at this time. Farber said the numbers of outages have "hit a spike" as people have returned to their residences.  If help is needed, the Mayor's Office urges people to call the police at 422-6111

Asked whether the majority of outages in White Plains could be caused by circuit breakers on the wires blowing and causing a short circuit blacking out  vast blocks as happened last night in the Highlands, Farber said "that could have been a cause," but actual causes would be determined until lines that fail were "autopsied" at Con Edison's laboratory in The Bronx. Farber said she would try and find out. Farber said most of the outages were heat related. In a number of cases in the past,

WPCNR has asked the reason behind blackouts, and Con Edison has given the same answer that the laboratory has to investigate, however, results never seem to be announced of those investigations. The failure of the transformers in downtown White Plains two years ago where feeder cables melted, but why they melted was never explained.

 A "CitizeNetReporter" from the Highlands reports that Midchester Avenue -- home to Councilman Benjamin Boykin--  has been out since 4 o'clock -- and that the fire department was going house to house on that street, but did not know why. WPCNR has also learned that a portion of Prospect Park went "offline" at 4:30 this afternoon. A CitizeNetReporter also notes that there are other portions of the Highlands that have winked out.

The cause of the rolling blackouts tonight in White Plains is not known at this time.