Thousands in North Buffalo were without power Friday due to a power outage.

According to National Grid, 11,000 customers were impacted by the outage. Crews have been trying to locate and repair damaged underground cables, which impacted approximately 8,000 customers in North Buffalo, primarily along Hertel Avenue, east of Elmwood Avenue in the city. Officials anticipate many customers could be without electricity service until Saturday.

"For me, this is the first time like for this long, losing power," said Aras Alshamary, the owner of Cloud Shisha, located on Hertel Avenue.

As businesses try to make a comeback during the pandemic, the outage is causing another setback for many of them.

Cloud Shisha lost power Friday morning. The owner spent much of the day outside of his business staying hydrated and hoping the power would come back on soon.

"I can't do any transactions with no credit card machine and it's super hot, nobody wants to come inside. Almost like for six hours now, we're outside, we're not selling, like zero income today," Alshamary said.

Meanwhile across the street at the Ivy Rose Apartments, Willie Jean Gibson lost power for a short time Friday morning.

"The elevator was out for a while but I was taking the stairs up to the third floor and some of the tenants, they have air conditioners but that was off, some of them have oxygen and breathing problems but I don't," she said.

Gibson is trying to keep a light mood in all of this and encourages others to do the same.

"We just deal with it, drink plenty of fluids, something cold," she said.

Down the block, Dana King has been without power all day as she works from home and takes care of her elderly mother.

"She's worried when you depend on the electricity for so much meaning you have to cook, so she can take her meds, also she's big on security so when that's not working she's on edge," King said.

King knows things can be worse so she also tries to focus on the positive in already difficult times.

"We're all pulling together because of everything that's going on and then no electricity makes it even a little bit more of a struggle but more pull together," King said. 

National Grid advises customers in the affected areas to switch off or unplug electrical appliances to avoid potential damage to the appliances when power is restored. They also remind customers to try to leave the refrigerator and freezer doors closed to keep the contents inside cool, and to leave at least one light on to indicate when power has been restored.

Because of the heat and humidity, sanitation pick up for Friday will resume Saturday morning. If one's garbage was not picked up Friday, the city asks that they leave their tote at the curb.

National Grid power outages can be tracked on this website.