Donald Trump

Statue of Liberty to Go Partially Dark as Work on Generator Wraps up

Some of the lights on the Statue of Liberty will be temporarily turned off Wednesday night as crews finish installing an emergency backup generator.

The lighting system that illuminates the exterior of the statue will be turned off from 6 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., according to the National Park Service. The lights on Lady Liberty’s torch and crown will remain illuminated using power from a small back-up generator.

Officials say the new backup generator, which will be able to power all of Liberty Island, will be placed in a structure specifically made to house it above projected flood elevations.

The work is being done at night so potential electrical outages don’t impact visitors, of which there were more than 4.5 million last year.

Earlier this year, the lights on the Statue of Liberty abruptly went out, leading to speculation on social media that it was a protest against President Trump, who had been inaugurated just weeks before.

In that case, someone forgot to turn a breaker back on after fixing a short in the electrical system.

"While this was an unplanned outage, there will be some planned outages related to the installation of a new emergency backup generator for Liberty Island," the National Park Service said at the time.

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