Dive Summary:

• Consolidated Edison Inc. reported Monday afternoon that 2,500 of its New York City customers were without power as Hurricane Sandy moved into the Northeast.
• The company sent flood watch crews to the tip of Manhattan and Coney Island to monitor the storm's activity.
• If the hurricane's surge approaches 11 feet, Con Ed may begin shutting off power to tens of thousands of Manhattan and Brooklyn customers.

From the article:

"... About 34,000 metered customers in Brooklyn and Manhattan are located in local networks under the shutdown threat. Con Ed, though, has the ability of containing outages to isolated power lines, limiting the impact to a smaller area.

Miksad said the utility was preparing for significant surges at high tide about 8 p.m. Monday. “It’s a two-front war that we’re fighting,” he said. The first is the potential damage from strong winds and trees ripping power lines. ..."