The bar scene is bustling around them, and their neighbors light candles just to set a mood — but the residents of an East Village high-rise remain in blackout limbo.
“Everyone else’s lights came on and here we are without them,” said Mara Marino, 47, a resident of Haven Plaza, 26-story high-rise at Avenue C and East 12th Street that still hasn’t had its electricity or heat restored. “I feel like we’re the only candle without a flame.”
Water pressure in the building goes up only a few floors, elevators are disabled and residents are forced to trudge up and down the stairs for necessities.
“My daughter goes up and down 14 floors, five times a day, to bring me food and water,” said Iris Bido, 71. “I hope the coming storm doesn’t do any more damage. We need to get back to normal.”
There were 35,100 Con Ed customers without power yesterday and another 33,000 Long Island Power Authority customers in the dark in the Rockaways.
“It’s still a very big number,” Mayor Bloomberg said, estimating that 50 to 75 percent of those are in buildings where the wiring was flooded with saltwater and needs repair before they are ready to accept power.
The storm was expected to delay restoration efforts and even knock out power to more homes.
Those homes could face a long wait because buildings knocked offline by Sandy remain a priority.
“Restoring downed transmission could theoretically restore some nor’easter folks first,” said Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin. “But basically the folks who’ve been out from Sandy are our priority.”
Con Ed estimates the bill for post-Sandy restoration will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.