Power Outage?

[zonelistener]

Major power outage hits large cities
Thursday, August 14, 2003

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A major power outage simultaneously struck dozens of cities in the United States and Canada late Thursday afternoon.

Cities affected include New York; Boston, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Toronto, Ontario; and Ottawa, Ontario. The power outage occurred shortly after 4 p.m.

State officials said the Niagara-Mohawk power grid was overloaded. The grid provides power for New York and stretches into Canada. The officials said the outage is a natural occurrence and not related to terrorism.

Much of Midtown Manhattan and Wall Street were shut down. All area airports and the Long Island Railroad were also affected. The airports were operating on back-up power and operations were reported to be normal, officials said.

The New York City Police Department said they were trying to determine what happened.

Thousands of people could be seen leaving buildings and walking into the streets. New York subways were reported stopped and people were trapped in the cars.


(ANYONE back online AFTER the power failure?)

 

[HelloAngel]

This is so messed up.

 

[ABEL]

one of my co-workers just told me about the outage

my brother and sister-in-law and 4 month old baby niece live in NYC...I hope they're all doing ok...I would try to call them, but I'm sure everyone's trying to call everyone now, and I wouldn't want to get the phone lines all tied up too.

 

[zonelistener]

Our plane is coming from Detroit...but may not go back.

 

[david]

the news is showing footage of people crowding the streets of new york and it looks like a marathon.

how horrible.

 

[pax]

Nothing to be worried about, at least not yet--people are being evacuated from subways and elevators and there are no reports of deaths or injuries. New Yorkers are a classy bunch.

Don't scare jkayet!

 

[deep]

RIOAC reports power outage good for theft prevention.

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

There's a thread over in FYM about this too: http://forum.interference.com/t80693.html

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

hey, how come no one cared when there was a power outage in memphis, and a huge storm to boot?

 

[pax]

The website of the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) is down, shockingly enough.

I like to visit that page sometimes and look at subway maps.

 

[zonelistener]

hey, how come no one cared when there was a power outage in memphis, and a huge storm to boot?

This is New York, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, Ottawa and point between. (I think Boston may have been on the list).

 

[martha]

All those states and provinces should recall their governors now.

 

[nbcrusader]

All those states and provinces should recall their governors now.

Better overpriced power than no power at all!

 

[melon]

Nope...Boston is online and unaffected.

Melon

 

[nbcrusader]

Reports now suggest the power outage was caused by a lightening strike.

From the Washington Post:

Power Outages Hit N.E. United States, Canada

 

[martha]

Better overpriced power than no power at all!

 

[zonelistener]

Other speculations:

"Officials were looking at a power transmission problem from Canada as the most likely cause, said a spokeswoman for New York Gov. George Pataki."


ah yes....
BLAME CANADA

 

[*BOOMCHAA!*]

I know I do

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

this shit went down right before i boarded my flight this afternoon. the people in the airport going to NY were scared and so was i because we had no idea what was going on.

 

[Bono's shades]

My sister lives in New York City. I know there haven't been any deaths or injuries reported, but I still can't help worrying. I know it's no use trying to reach her by phone, so I'll just wait to hear from her.

I'm just glad it wasn't terrorists this time.

 

[Diane L]

I live on Long Island, and my power went out at 4:15 pm and came back on at 8:50 pm.
I feel very lucky that it was restored relatively quickly. Many people are still waiting to get their power back on.

 

[SkeeK]

my power (in London ontario) came back about the same time as Daine L's.

It was kinda nice and tranquil without all the power.

 

[tiny dancer]

I live on Long Island, and my power went out at 4:15 pm and came back on at 8:50 pm.
I feel very lucky that it was restored relatively quickly. Many people are still waiting to get their power back on.

That's good to hear about Long Island. My brother and his wife live in Baldwin, and right now they are on vacation on a cruise. What part of the Island do you live on?

 

[V Nura]

I just rejoined civiliation again...man that was a crazy few hours.


My mom had to close a patient up in the Operating room cos power went out.

 

[beegee]

those new yorkers are tough.
i'm sure they'll all be fine.
my big brother included.

NYC

 

[ABEL]

My mom called me tonight. She said that she'd talked to my brother, and he and his wife and new daughter are all doing fine. He left work shortly before the power outage happened. He was about to get on the subway, but stoped for a Gatorade at the corner deli, thank goodness....just in time...cuz that's when the power outage happened...he could have been stuck on a subway for who knows how long. He had to walk home, which luckily he was able to do. He had to walk about 34 blocks from 42nd street to Greenwich Village.

Ya know, the people of NYC are really nice for the most part, and come together in times of crisis like that...my brother said that on his way home, he saw several people pull over in their cars and turn the radios up really loud so people who didn't have power could hear the news and find out what was going on. All the people in his building ordered pizza, since the pizzaria's use gas ovens. They all met on the first floor of the apartment building to eat the pizza and talk about what was going on.

I'm glad everyone is ok, and hope they get the electricity back on soon

 

[madonna's child]

I feel bad for the people who were trapped in the subways. that would be my worst nightmare! and when they started pulling them out of the subways the rescuerers were like "don't touch the third line, if the power comes back on you could get killed." crazy shit!

I hope everyone affected is safe and comfortable tonight!

 

[ABEL]

I wonder how many people will have sore leg muscles in NYC tomorrow

some of them have had to walk for 4-5 hours to get home

 

[spinninghead77]

I just got my power back, at 5:00am. That's 12.75 hours without power. I was actually on the subway when the power went off, but luckily we had just rolled into the station. I had to walk home but luckily it was a little less then a 2 hour walk.

They are saying all of Toronto will be back up between 6-8am, and that the ttc (subway) will be down all morning. It also sounds like only 'essential' workers are being asked to go to work. That's not me so that means LONG WEEKEND!!

I hope that everyone else has power again and that you are all doing well.

 

[Diane L]

I lost my power again for about an hour just about midnight, but it's on now. (Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be typing this!!)
ABEL, SkeeK, Spinny, I'm glad you and/or your family members are fine.
And Tiny Dancer, I live in the town of Huntington.