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[Capergirl]

I thought my American and Canadian friends might be interested to know what's happening in the event that you all haven't heard yet:

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; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Toronto and Ottawa, Canada. The power outage occurred shortly after 4 p.m. Officials said the outage does not appear to be related to terrorism.

By 6 p.m. the power was being restored in parts of the affected area, starting with the northern and western edges, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference.

He said it was unknown how long the outage may last but did say it would be "hours not minutes."

The New York Stock Exchange announced plans to open on schedule Friday, using emergency power.

Bloomberg mobilized 40,000 police officers and the entire fire department overnight to maintain order. As of late afternoon there had been no reports of looting or other disturbances.

New York Gov. George Pataki declared a state of emergency for the state and deployed additional state police.

State officials said the outage was likely a natural occurrence. They said the Niagara-Mohawk power grid, which provides power for New York and stretches into Canada, was overloaded.

Bloomberg said there was "absolutely no indication" of terrorism.

Black smoke coming from a power station on East 14th Street was a natural reaction to the power company shutting down its boilers, Bloomberg said.

"No damage was done to the Con Ed facilities," Bloomberg told CNN.

A statement from the Department of Homeland Security said, "The department is working with state and local officials an the energy sector to determine the cause of the outage and what response may need to be taken."

Bryan Lee, a spokesman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said based on preliminary information it appears that a "cascading blackout" has destabilized the power grid as far north as Canada and as far west as Detroit and Cleveland.

FERC and the Department of Energy were monitoring the situation and evaluating the problem, Lee said.

Frank McCarton, deputy commissioner for the Office of Emergency Management, said the blackout may have originated in Canada. "We understand that, from Con Ed, that we had a power surge and a dip and a failure that originated in Ontario," McCarton said.


A pedestrian directs traffic at a downtown Toronto intersection during a power outage.
At least 1.5 million people in central and northern New Jersey were without power late Thursday and there was no train service for homebound commuters.

Emergency officials were trying to expedite transport of commuters from New York City by ferry across the Hudson River. Traffic signals were rendered inoperable, and emergency officials urged motorists to stay off the roads.

Much of Midtown Manhattan and Wall Street was shut down. All area airports and the Long Island Railroad were also affected.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded planes at all three New York area airports and in Cleveland because the blackout affected security screening facilities. The FAA reported planes also were grounded at the Toronto airport. The airports were operating on backup power, officials said.

The New York City Police Department said a number of people were trapped in elevators. 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.


Transit workers escort riders off of a subway car on the Upper West Side of Manhattan during a power outage.
"We are going to have a situation where people are going to have to walk a long distance. They need to be careful," Bloomberg said. "Our advice is to go home, open up your windows, drink a lot of liquids."

In Washington, a White House official said information about the situation was being relayed to President Bush, who was in California.

The last big blackout in the United States took place almost exactly seven years ago, August 11, 1996, when some 4 million customers in nine Western states and parts of Mexico lost power for as long as 10 hours.

In 1977, a blackout left some 9 million people in New York City without power for up to 25 hours.

[guty]

If the bureaucrats cant do their work for a whole day, how will the city/state ever recover?

[scot47]

How could this happen in what is supposedly a technologically advanced society? And the richest country in the World.

[khmerhit]

I dont know, Scot, but it was a hot nite on the old tiles last nite. It took me four hours to walk out of downtown toronto. Halfway, I stopped for another rest (Im 39 years old, you see) and got to talking with a woman who said she had taught in Dalian, Argentina, Tunisia, Thailand, Egypt etcetc.. "Well, we've got the candles and the darkness, she said. I keep expecting to see Tunisians. Where are the food stalls?"

[Corey]

Whoop-di-do.

We have extended blackouts in CR at least once a month. Usually the first day of class or exam time.

[Capergirl]

Those of us on the East coast missed all the fun! We did get to see it on TV, though...thousands of people flooding the streets...you don't see that every day. (Unless you live in Asia. )

I'm glad that they finally agreed, after an exhaustive investigation, that it was an explosion that caused the blackout...I mean lightning...I mean a fire...

[Canuck2112]

I figure the Belgians were probably behind it. They just sat there inconspicuously, enjoying their premium Hoegaarden beer and chocolate, waiting until we got complacent...then BAM!...they hit us when our guard was down. No one ever suspects a Belgian

[NumberOneSon]

Since they're thinking it started in Ohio, I suspect
Amish terrorists.

Sure, they look benign, with their beards, funny hats,
and odd clothing, but they are growing more and more
envious of the "English" every day.

Being God's Chosen People, they aren't content with
their monopoly on the oak furniture market any longer.

They're out for more and they don't care if they have
to ruin modern civilization to get it.

It's simply amazing what they can do with hand-made
tools, ropes, pulleys and horses. Taking down the
power grid would be a piece of cake compared to a
barn raising.

[guest of Japan]

It was hell.

I was finishing my vacation. My plan was to take an 8 hour train trip from Niagra Falls to NYC. Stay in a nice hotel, then fly out of NYC in the early afternoon back to Japan.

But things didn't work that way. They train ride was 28 hours. The flight was delayed for 21 hours. In total I spent 54 hours on trains, taxi's, planes and concrete benches drinking warm water and dining on beef jerky and potato chips.

[scot47]

Oh no ! You had nothing to eat but jerky and potato chips! That is AWFUL !

You really have experienced dreadful hardship !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[guest of Japan]

I did manage to find a good NY bagel, so it wasn't completely bad.

[guest of Japan]

I thought I might share an update of my experience because I just found out some very good new.

My plane was delayed the 21 hours not just because of the blackout but also because of a long list screw ups of airline company protocol. While on the plane most of the passengers signed a petition for redress of grievances with contact information for the nice woman who spearheaded the operation. She then contacted a whole lot of powerful people on our behalf and got the airline to agree to a compensation package. The whole process was pretty vague. After she succeeded in getting a general offer it was up to us passengers to secure the final details. I'm sure a lot of people who aren't good at English got the shaft.

After a lot of letter writing the customer service department of the airline agreed to refund the total price of our tickets. My wife and I paid about $1600 each for round trip tickets though a travel agent. About two weeks ago I got another letter requesting bank information so as to deposit about $2500 which had been alotted to me. I thought this was great. We were getting most of our money back minus the travel agent fee and taxes.

But, I was mistaken. Upon checking my bank account today there was $5000 extra. My wife and I each made almost $1000 profit for our experience. It seems they paid us the listed price for the flight and not the discounted price we got through the airline.

Moral of the story: If you ever experience a flight from hell, sign a petition, write lots of carefully worded but polite letters and count your money. Drinks are on me.

[shmooj]

I find the caveat "not due to terrorism" somewhat amusing if I can use that word without anyone taking offence.

If it isn't due to terrorism, some public official's butt is going to fry. The day it is terrorism that causes this, the officials are going to breath a sigh of relief that they can finally pass the buck