NYC Power Outage Snarls Traffic Trains

A brief power outage darkened a large swath of Manhattan and the Bronx Wednesday, knocking out traffic lights, cutting subway service and forcing the evacuation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on one of the hottest days of the year.

Power was restored within about an hour, but that did not stop the city from experiencing some of the chaos it endured during blackouts last year and in 2003.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was evacuated, and visitors were forced to sit on the outside steps in the sweltering heat. Traffic lights up and down the east side of Manhattan and the Bronx, including the area around Yankee Stadium, went dark.