A partial power outage hit the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, according to Eyewitness News ABC7NY. Several stores were left without power and some people needed to be rescued from rides.
Most of the stores are closed because they simply do not have enough power, a reporter at the mall said, according to the station. There is only a little bit of backup emergency power available.
Inside, the scene was described as very strange, the station reported. Except for some shrieking sirens and alarms going off, everything was quiet, with only emergency lights on and some sunlight coming in through the skylights.
The retail stores and the kiosks that could be seen were closed, according to Eyewitness News ABC7NY. The fountains were dry.
The restaurants had to stop serving food and send their employees home, the station reported. People were still milling around or resting on the couches, but could not spend their money or enjoy any of the rides.
Some families said they had traveled to the mall to enjoy the water park, the snow and other novelty experiences but could not do any of that, according to the report. They were very disappointed, especially since they had expected the outage to last only a few minutes, but it had been going on for at least a couple of hours.
American Dream has said little about the situation, only describing it as a localized power outage, the station reported. The outage appeared to be extending beyond the mall itself.