major power outage

[HOBBIT]

There has been an ongoing major power outage on the eastern coast. It originated in new york and had a ripple affect.

Now NYC, many cities in NY, Ohio, parts of NJ, Canada, Conneticut.


The power went out where I live but went back on.

[jerseydevil]

The lights dimmed here - but never went out. It must have surged here when NY went out.

Bloomberg is on now. SGH's power is out in Akron.

[jerseydevil]

I was wondering how people around the world were getting this reported. BBC video reported that it was "chaos" in Ny until Mike Bloomberg came on the air. That isn't true. I was watching NY local news and everything was calm. Citizens went out and were directing traffic, helping people who needed help, etc.

It's sort of funny how they report "chaos" when it's not at all. Initially there was concern as to what happened - but that only lasted a half hour at most.

Newark Liberty and LaGuardia just reopened.

New Yorkers and New Jerseyans handle things rather well. People pull together and help each other. It's what is needed in times like these.

Here are some local media links....

Eyewitness News (ABC)
New 12 New Jersey

They just showed on the news that the first lights in the city are getting turned on.

[Elf Girl]

Well, you know, calm response to trouble just isn't headline-news material. *is annoyed that everyone must report catastrophes*

My power is on.

[Insidious Rex]

50 million people and the biggest black out of all time makes for pretty big headlines Id say. But yeah things seem pretty calm. especially since this came at the beginning of rush hour. the best time for black outs are the middle of the night of course. and then you have a mini baby boom 9 months later.

[jerseydevil]

Local news just said that 50 million people were without electricity. 1/5 of Americans.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Insidious Rex
50 million people and the biggest black out of all time makes for pretty big headlines Id say. But yeah things seem pretty calm. especially since this came at the beginning of rush hour. the best time for black outs are the middle of the night of course. and then you have a mini baby boom 9 months later.

I didn't see your post when I posted. This is the type of stuff that I had a problem with from the BBC as they report it -

With no power, no air conditioning, no transport and no traffic lights, there was chaos.
In Pictures: North American blackouts: BBC

Instead businesses are selling ice cream cheaply and people are hanging around, talking, and basically partying - at least according to local news. Since I have been watching the news none stop and they've had it commerical free since has occurred - I trust the local news on what the situation is in the city.

This is what local news was reporting...

With no power for traffic lights, many New Yorkers tried to help out by directing traffic.

People in the city have been calm and relatively peaceful, if confused and unsure of what to do.
Images From The Story- Pictures from Around New York City (NY ABC)

[Sister Golden Hair]

My power came on about 1/2 hour ago. It was off for about 6 or 7 hours. Cleveland is still without power as far as I know.

[HOBBIT]

NYC still does not have power - at least as far as i know.

i was talking to relatives that live there (in manhattan) and it was still out.

[Sheeana]

How does the power outtage effect the subways? Are the trains electric, or what?

I read up about it after Azalea complained on the venting thread, and like JD said, the article impled general mayhem.

[Kalile]

Well, the West coast had no problems.

Canada said that it was caused by a lightening strike on the NY side of Niagra falls. About an hour later, Bloomburg said that it was caused by a lightening strike in Quebec. Hmm.
And the weather man that said that there was no lightening around there only said it once, and then wasn't heard from again.

When we watched the speech from the governer, he was in the middle of a word, and the picture flicked out. Someone started giggling in the background, and the reporter was trying not to smile as he reported that they had lost the link. (They also lost two reporters)

From all of this, I say that we really don't think that this is much of a problem.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Sheeana
How does the power outtage effect the subways? Are the trains electric, or what?

The subways are electric. As are the NJ Transit trains.

Kalile - Mayor Bloomberg didn't blame it on a lightning strike - he said the problem originated in Canada though. They are now suspecting that Canada may have pulled power from the US - but they don't know. It's still all under investigation.

As Hobbit said - NY is still without power.

[HOBBIT]

Originally posted by Sheeana
How does the power outtage effect the subways? Are the trains electric, or what?

I read up about it after Azalea complained on the venting thread, and like JD said, the article impled general mayhem.

Yeah, they are . They aren't working (or they weren't working properly earlier, don't know if they are now).

A huge number of people were leaving the city throughout the day - it was pretty cool to see on tv. JD is right that people were being nice to eachother, giving rides and such. But to say that there was no chaos is not true.

There was some chaos - like with the subways and such. Elevators stopping, etc.

They still aren't sure of the cause...

this did cause a lot of trouble! Luckily, over here the power just went out briefly then went back on - took about half an hour to an hour for the cable and internet to start working again - and we had to reset everything - what a pain! The water pressure here for hours was gone, too.

Power is being restored all over gradually.... NYC is still out and a lot of the network stations don't appear to be powered.

Kalile, you in the west coast don't think it is a problem?

Um, having a huge blackout like this IS a big problem. Think of hospitals, people trapped in places such as elevators. You can't open electronic locks, see, cook, use appliances, run public transportation effectively, get anything done at work (no electricity = computers can't run, no lights.. can't see anything, very unproductive), and think of all the potential crimes!

[Sheeana]

Oh don't be such babies. Auckland lost it's power a few years back, and it was down for WEEKS. (silly buggers didn't replace the cables and all but one snapped.)

http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9803/27/auckland.outage/

[HOBBIT]

yeah, but this wasn't supposed to happen

this wasn't just in one city - it was very widespread, as in many cities.

it must be scary to be in NYC now, all dark except for a bunch of building with backup generators.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by HOBBIT
yeah, but this wasn't supposed to happen

this wasn't just in one city - it was very widespread, as in many cities.

it must be scary to be in NYC now, all dark except for a bunch of building with backup generators.

Well ABC is still having the news on - people are still outside. People are sleepoing in the parks and stuff - on air mattresses and things.

Also - there wasn't chaos on the subways - there was some panic, but not chaos. People on the subways had no idea what was going on. They thought it might have been a terrorist attack. They were stuck in dark tunnels with no lights. It would be very frightening. But then when they got them out - it ws orderly - not chaos. Getting people out of the elevators was orderly too.

The BBC sort of implied that people were running around with their heads cut off. That was nothing of the sort.

Sheeana - Aukland has only 346,000 people in it. NYC alone has 9 million. 50 million were without electricity throughout the northeastern United States.

[Kalile]

Maybe I misheard the governor talking about Canada, but he still said it was Canada, and Canada said it was the US. This could be a potential trouble spot, with two major world powers pointing fingers at each other. That could maybe be a cause: someone wanting Canada and the U.S. to be busy arguing... OK, that's not likely, but still.

And I didn't mean that it wan't a problem, quite the contrary, I don't think we're taking it seriously enough. I said that the West Coast didn't have a problem. No power outages here, just water shortages.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Kalile
Maybe I misheard the governor talking about Canada, but he still said it was Canada, and Canada said it was the US. This could be a potential trouble spot, with two major world powers pointing fingers at each other. That could maybe be a cause: someone wanting Canada and the U.S. to be busy arguing... OK, that's not likely, but still.

Wait - Canada a major world power? Let me stop from laughing. It's not going to cause any problems with the US and Canada. Where ever the problem originated from will be discovered. Since there wasn't any lightning in Niagara (according to the weathermen here) - it was stupid for Canada to make that claim.

Wow - it happened at 4:11 - according to one clock that was stopped.

[jerseydevil]

This is just so laughable - seeing the local news and seeing what the BBC is reporting is funny....

Mass chaos 'echoed 9/11'

Most of the human traffic was trying to escape the chaos of Manhattan, with not a single traffic light or power socket working anywhere.

There wasn't any chaos they were tyring to escape - they were just trying to get home.

This BBC report does at least indicate that most of it was calm - but the headline doesn't indicate that at all.

How are other countries reporting this?

[jerseydevil]

250,000 people were in the subway tunnels when the lights went out according to the news.

By the way - some tourists are stranded outside their hotel rooms - because the card keys don't work without electricity.

At 4:17am the first lights in Manhattan started coming back on - from Broadway to 5th Avenue and from Central Park to around 50th Street.