Mylar foil balloon caused power outage in Long Beach, rest of barrier island
Long Beach experienced a citywide power outage Tuesday. Credit: Jim Staubitser
A foil-coated Mylar balloon was to blame for a power outage in Long Beach and its barrier island Tuesday that affected 24,000 customers for nearly 80 minutes, according to LIPA officials.
LIPA chairwoman Tracey Edwards told the board at a meeting Wednesday morning that a balloon was preliminarily found to be the cause of the outage.
“Even an hour is too long,” Edwards said.
PSEG Long Island said that after receiving a report of a Mylar balloon on one of its lines, the power was switched to another line and the cable failed, causing the outage.
“Our operators worked quickly and were able to switch the power to bring the power back to all customers,” the utility said in a statement. “PSEG Long Island continues to investigate the cause of the failure and is working on remediating the problem as quickly and as safely as possible.”
A spokesman for the city of Long Beach did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Metal, including the metallic coating on Mylar or foil balloons, is an effective conductor of electricity. When a Mylar balloon comes into contact with a power line, officials said, it can cause a short circuit and lead to outages or fires.
The outage began shortly after 4:30 p.m. and PSEG Long Island said most customers were restored as of 5:47 p.m.
PSEG Long Island’s outage map showed no customers with power out as of Wednesday morning.
Initially, more than 20,000 were without power on the barrier island, including more than 16,000 in Long Beach alone.
