Nearly 60,000 LIPA customers in the Five Towns area were left without power for about an hour Wednesday due to a substation transmission failure.
The outages created a traffic mess at intersections and railroad crossings. The lights went out at around 1 p.m., but were quickly turned back on. A person got stuck in an elevator at a Signature Bank in Woodmere, but no other major problems were reported.
LIPA says the transmission failure was at the substation in Valley Stream, but it is not sure if the failure had anything to do with the heat wave during the past few days.
Shopkeepers and residents in Hewlett say they?re just glad the power didn?t go out when the temperatures were above 90 degrees.