I Tell You, I Was ConEd Into Thinking Everything Would Be OK . . .

But really, how did you guys find so many quotes in just over half an hour?:

It lasted less than an hour, but a power failure that left big sections of the Upper East Side and the Bronx without electricity yesterday afternoon stirred fears that there may be more dark days ahead this summer for Con Edison and its customers.

The lights flickered and went out shortly before 4 p.m., halting service on several subway lines and reviving memories of the regionwide blackout of August 2003 and the power failure last year that left a large swath of Queens without current for more than a week. With hours of daylight left, some residents rushed out to stock up on candles, water and other emergency supplies.

. . .

At the Family Market on Lexington Avenue near 85th Street, the owners were breaking out an emergency supply of water jugs they kept in the basement. One of the owners, Cindy H. Woo, 48, said that she and her husband were worried that looters might come into the streets if the lights stayed out into the night.

She said that she was not looking forward to a summer that she said could include many more blackouts. “Of course, I was upset,” she said. “It’s not just one time. It’s many.”

A customer in the store, Kariyma Quashie, 21, said that she was unable to go to Brooklyn to pick up her 10-month-old daughter from day care because the trains were not running. She blamed Con Ed.

“They should have learned from the last time this happened,” she said. “They should have had a back-up or something. To be out for an hour!”