Huge New York power outage leaves more than 17,000 people without electricity

Thousands of New Yorkers are currently without ectricity due to an unexplainable power outage.

Over 17,000 homes experienced the outage after National Grid reported an issue with a high voltage transition line.

"The lines are out of service," Steve Brady, a spokesperson for the National Grid, told the Rochester news outlet Democrat and Chronicle. "We don’t know why. We don’t know if there’s a line down, if there’s a tree branch across the lines."

Investigators on the ground were working to determine the exact cause of the outage Monday morning, along with the help of a helicopter patrol unit. The issue has impacted at least 12,000 residents in Monroe County and another 4,000 in Orleans County, according to a statement released by the utility company.

The counties impacted by the power outage are also experiencing high temperatures this week, with a heat advisory in effect throughout the Rochester area. The regional heat index is expected to reach the mid-90s on Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

National Grid published a map showing at least 36 active power outages across New York on Monday, with a total of 17,241 customers impacted.

The power outages impacted scattered portions of upstate New York, with the College at Brockport and multiple other counties, including Bergen and Genesee county, also losing electricity on Monday.

The issue was first reported early Monday morning, as crews began rushing towards the impacted areas at about 7:15am.

The company walked back its "estimated time of restorations" through Monroe and Orleans counties after it was unable to meet its initial 9.00am deadline to return power.

National Grid said it expected to restore power for most impacted customers by Monday afternoon.