Major power surge in NY? (Blackout is in NYC, Detroit, Ottawa and Toronto, per Fox News)

8-14-03 | Joe Hadenuf

[Joe Hadenuf]

Hannity station went dead for about 20 seconds. Said he had never seen anything like it.

[Silas]

Will GREENPEACE step up to the plate and admit that they are to blame ??

[DonnerT]

Well that is the rumor that is reported.

Rumor... Exactly.

20 year power and control specialist.
Something (no one knows what) caused an unbalance on the grid. If the safety drop out systems had not worked as they did there would have been massive generator destruction all over. It would take weeks or months to repair.

[hoosiermama]

why didn't the computers in Canada and NY stop the problem there?

Maybe there's a rat .... worm in the computer?!?

[Lijahsbubbe]

Philly weather guy is saying that weather had NOTHING to do with it

The weather guys are trying to get in on this? Oh brother, like they'd know, they can't even give the right forecast!

[Diddle E. Squat]

Seems to match the earlier theory that it was a Quebec plant that had a problem, made a mistake and didn't follow procedures by calling in power from adjacent areas, creating a surge/imbalance that was the reason for the cascade.

[GOP_1900AD]

I am really begining to suspect a multi point failure. Now, what would cause that?

[Chad Fairbanks]

Could be... when they are 'self-rebooting' every few minutes, and the networks are sluggish, it tends to cut the reaction time just a tad...

I got a figure from a friend at AT&T today - they had 8,000 computers affected by MSBlast yesterday - 8000! And that was just AT&T Wireless' Internal Help Centers...

[GOPrincess]

"Some of the infrastructure in NY and those other big cities is old and maybe wasn't meant to carry the loads they carry."

Interesting point. Maybe the system simply isn't as up-to-date as some of us, myself included, would tend to expect (especially given that this supposedly wasn't supposed to be able to happen again).

[Kieri]

Jackson, Michigan, singing in.

We've had power all day except for a brief brown-out around 4PM. We had another flicker around 8:30PM ET too, but things seem to be steady.

My husband, a trainer for the state, works in Lansing. He missed getting stuck in the elevators because he had a dentist appointment! He works in the tower building downtown, and we're wondering if the office will be open tomorrow. They're down to a skeleton crew when it comes to training (even though they've got PLENTY of micromanaging supervisors and managers), and if the building is shut down Social Services statewide will be screwed.

[Mo1]

I'd bet it's going on in NY too, and they are keeping a media lid on it.......

Nope .. looks like NYer's are dancing the streets

People come together to dance in Union Square Park in New York after a major power outage left the city dark on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003. The outage which affected everything from mobile phones to traffic lights occurred across much of northeastern United States and Canada. (AP Photo/ Mike Appleton)

[PennsylvaniaMom]

I know, cause the judge in town got blood stains on his hands...

[mhking]

GOP Lt. Gov. Jeanette Bradley now on MSNBC talking about Cleveland situation.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I agree. I bet they know exactly what caused this event, but we probably wont be told.

[Diddle E. Squat]

would hope you have seen enough of my posts to know I support Dubya 100%.

I'm glad to read that. I feel the same way.

[Mo1]

The weather guys are trying to get in on this? Oh brother, like they'd know, they can't even give the right forecast!

Well they can .. AFTER the storm passes

[Silas]

I love the way that HITLARY pretends to be pissed off at the entire electrical system. She pretends that she was not in the White House for 8 years, is not Senator of New York, and does not oppose all power plants from being built because of the Envviirrroooonnment.

And the reporters all just say, 'uh-huh, uh-huh'.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

My sister is actually doing business at a trade show this week in NYC...so she's stuck in it. She lives in Healdsburg, and she'd said she's done a bunch a business this week...and was talking about inviting me in to her business! So I hope she got it done before the lights went out!

(Hey, I could live in Sonoma...the politics can't be worse than W.Wash. and the weather's one helluva lot better. Skiing in Tahoe...Arnie as Gov, yeah, I could manage it.

[Diddle E. Squat]

So what is your best guess on what happened?

[ThirdMate]

CNN just reported that smoking ban is being flaunted!

[Petronski]

If this is Bill Gates' fault, I don't think we'll ever hear about it.

</tinfoilhat>