Thousands of New Yorkers faced a harrowing commute home as a power outage left them stranded underground for hours. Two F trains were stuck without power, forcing approximately 3,500 passengers to evacuate through subway tunnels and service exits. The incident occurred around 5:30 p.m. between Jay Street/MetroTech and Hoyt-Schermerhorn stations, according to the MTA.
The trains, unable to move without power, left commuters trapped in the tunnel without air conditioning for over two hours. FDNY personnel eventually led the passengers off the stalled trains through dark subway tunnels and up service stairways to trapdoors on Brooklyn sidewalks. Social media was flooded with images of the chaotic evacuation.
One evacuee tweeted, “Trapped in an unpowered rush hour F train with no a/c for the last 70 minutes til FDNY got us out through a damn maintenance tunnel at Smith and Atlantic.” Another passenger described the ordeal as a “s–t show” but praised the MTA staff and firefighters for their assistance.
By 8:20 p.m., all riders and MTA staff on the two trains were evacuated. Four people suffered minor injuries, with one taken to NYU Langone – Cobble Hill. NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow thanked responders for their quick assistance, noting that evacuations were orderly and no serious injuries occurred.
One passenger, Anders Nelson, shared that emotions ran high among commuters, with some losing composure and others bonding over the shared ordeal. Three other subway trains were briefly stalled but managed to move backward into stations with power.
The outage caused delays and disruptions on the A, C, F, and G lines, which continued overnight. Con Edison and the MTA are working together to restore power and investigate the cause of the outage.
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