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Journalism of Courage
The largest blackout in North American history plunged the streets of New York and other major US and Canadian cities into darkness through Friday morning, forcing millions to spend a night in the sweltering summer heat without air conditioning, lights or television.
Authorities were uncertain if power would be restored in time for work or for the trading day to begin at financial markets. New York8217;s subways were not expected to be running in time for the morning commute, raising questions about whether traders could get to the markets if they opened. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq said they expected to open Friday morning as usual.
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Blackout may even
boost US economy |
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8216;8216;It is a reminder of how vulnerable the US economy is to problems in the energy sector, and there are a lot of problems there,8217;8217; said Julian Jessup, senior international economist at Standard Chartered in London. Reuters |
More than 12 hours after the power outage began at about 4 p.m. EDT 2000 GMT on Thursday, most of New York was pitch black and only a few sections of the city had electricity. Thousands of commuters, who were unable to make it home, slept in the streets of Manhattan.
Authorities were unsure about what caused the power outage, which spread across 3,600 square miles to Detroit and Cleveland, and across the Canadian border to Toronto and Ottawa, except to say it was not the work of saboteurs. 8216;8216;The one thing I can say for certain is that this was not a terrorist act,8217;8217; President George W. Bush told reporters in California.
Some blamed the outage on North America8217;s aging electricity transmission grid, which saw its greatest expansion in the years following World War II. 8216;8216;We8217;re a superpower with a third-world grid. We need a new grid,8217;8217; New Mexico Governor and former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson told CNN.
It was the biggest blackout in North American history, according to US power grid operators, eclipsing the 1965 blackout that affected about 30 million people.
The outage spread in a matter of seconds, tripping circuit breakers from the Great Lakes to New England to protect costly electrical equipment from a sudden voltage jolt.
In New York, the blackout trapped thousands in crowded subways, forced millions of office workers onto the streets, darkened Broadway and hit trading on US financial markets. The transit system in Toronto ground to a halt and thousands were stranded as temperatures hit 300 C. Subway stations were closed to prevent overcrowding. Both the Toronto Stock Exchange and Pearson International Airport operated on back-up power.
In Detroit, headquarters of the largest US automakers, many workers went home after the lights went out, creating traffic gridlock in the city. General Motors said several of its auto plants were closed by the outages. It also briefly closed New York8217;s three main airports.
Authorities reported sporadic incidents of looting in Brooklyn, where police arrested 26 people.
By early Friday morning, power had been restored to some New York City suburbs and a handful of neighbourhoods, according to power company Con Edison.
The office of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said a severe outage at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant may have caused the massive power blackout.
Earlier, US and Canadian officials said a fire or perhaps lightning had hit a power plant near Niagara Falls in New York state. Power grid operators said there appeared to have been a failure on the high-voltage transmission lines connecting the US and Canada. Nine nuclear reactors in four US states were shut down, officials said. Reuters
