Massive Blackout Cripples Northeast (good summary)

FoxNews ^ | Aug. 14, 2003 | Sharon Kehnemui

[FairOpinion]

I thought this was a good summary of the situation.

Also it points out that whatever caused it, natural or otherwise, it did bring everything to a screaching halt. I heard on TV that it affected 50 million people and read that it was the largest blackout in our history.

[God luvs America]

Well my lights went back on about 15 minutes ago and I live in Mt Kisco, 40 minutes north of midtown. Everything was very calm when I left my office (I work in White Plains) and the police were right on the mark taking care of traffic.

I'm watching CNN now (we have the dish and the local stations are not yet up). This Wolf Blitzer is a complete jackass; just sitting there whippin up the hysteria. He actually asked a girl how this compared to 9/11...dirtbag!

[FairOpinion]

That's good to know that lights are slowly coming back on.

[navydad]

Earlier the pols were promising it would only be hours till power is restored. How many still believe that? Wait till darkness falls, and the dark side of humanity shows its ugly head. This could get bad, real bad, real quick... And to think, the pols promised us this problem was fixed after the '96 outage. Right!

[LibWhacker]

Look at the bright side: When that dirtbag realizes that anything that reminds Americans of 9/11 is bad for the re-election hopes of rats, you can believe he'll stop whooping it up.

[MizSterious]

Well, O'Reilly is pretty much being a jackass too, so you're not missing much if you can't get Fox. He just let some bimbo's statement go unchallenged--she said that she expected more panic because "the government is less trustworthy and less believable" than they were before 9/11. Sheesh.

[nutmeg]

ping

[XRdsRev]

I'm about 16 miles west of the Outerbridge Crossing (Staten Island NY). Everything has been normal here all day, no power outages. The first I heard about it was when my business partner said the Parkway toll plazas were waving everybody through.

[Alberta's Child]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but Bloomberg left City Hall in New York and began mingling with the crowds of people walking in the area around the Brooklyn Bridge, and he was verbally abused so badly by the crowd that he fled the scene.

[Alberta's Child]

If JCP&L is your electricity supplier, then you are apparently fine. Areas served by PSE&G have been out of commission since 4:30 PM, though some of them may be coming back on line now.

[CarmelValleyite]

Geniuses -- like this is somehow Bloomberg's fault????????? Gimme a break!

[GOPologist]

I live near Hudson, NY., on the shore of the Hudson River, 100 miles north of NYC. Our electrical power went off at 4:14 pm and just came back at 7:25 pm--what a relief.

I experienced an outage similar to this in Nov., 1965.

News just said that the outage today was the result of a lightning bolt striking power transmitters in Niagara, NY. I doubt it.

[Rockitz]

Oh the Huge Manatee!

[_Jim]

power transmitters

transmitters ?

How about power transmisison equipment (like high tension lines) or power generation equipment ...

[MsGail61]

It's affecting Rush's webmaster too. I wanted to hear his show this evening but it hasn't been updated from yesterday.

[Alberta's Child]

I was on the streets in Manhattan after the power failure -- most people weren't exactly in a good mood.

Based on the live audio clip they played on the radio, it didn't sound as if anyone was really blaming the mayor. They just didn't want him there. He went out on the sidewalk and tried to give people all kinds of advice about staying cool and being careful as they made their way home. A bunch of reporters from the City Hall press pool was with him, and they ended up impeding pedestrians trying to walk down the street.

"Get the f#ck off the sidewalk, you dumb @sshole!" was the most common sentiment among those people. LOL.

[Cicero]

Interesting. Obviously it isn't Bloomberg's fault, but it suggests that the people of New York don't think he's Rudy Giuliani.

I don't think he's been making a lot of friends with his anti-smoking campaign and similar nonsense.

[ChemistCat]

If the power goes out, it's uncomfortable, but it's almost never an *emergency* unless you're so unprepared, you probably can't be trusted to tie your shoes without government assistance. When signals aren't working, there are traffic rules all licensed drivers are supposed to know.

Even business should be prepared to cope without power now and again. Earthquakes, tornadoes, fire, blizzards, and hurricanes can disrupt business. Preparedness isn't just for the home front.

And: why should a population trusted with the vote need a curfew? All we really need is the Second Amendment.

[mvpel]

I think I may have gotten my east coast liberal mom-in-law thinking this evening - when the reports came in about people stepping up to direct traffic, I commented, "that's the United States Militia in action, right there."

[navydad]

All we really need is the Second Amendment.

Agreed. But hasn't it been illegal for ordinary citizens in NYC to own guns for some time now?

Which means, after dark, the criminals rule.