More than 8,500 National Grid customers lost power Monday evening when an underground cable beneath Kenmore Avenue broke, according to National Grid spokesman Tom Corbett.
The power outage started at 5:15 p.m., initially affecting about 4,000 customers. The blackout grew as National Grid workers tried to re-circuit power lines, according to The Buffalo News.
The outage affected parts of northeast Buffalo, Amherst, Kenmore and the Town of Tonawanda.
Several traffic signals went out as a result. An Amherst resident reported problems with an oxygen machine, but the patient's power came back on within minutes, according to Amherst Fire Department officials. Additionally, Buffalo firefighters rescued a man from a stopped elevator in a building near the intersection of Main Street and Niagara Falls Boulevard.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
