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.

[Dan from Michigan]

Yeah, but that happens every night in Detroit. ;)

One reason why I do not live in Detroit.(besides the fact that I don't want to live in big cities to begin with)

[nutmeg]

I like your tagline. As a CT resident, you must feel like a fish out of water; I know I did until we moved south, got Fox News and I found Free Republic.

I know there are a lot of northeastern liberals here, but mostly everyone we happen to know is a conservative, or tends to be conservative. However, I do feel like our votes are mostly wasted - we'll probably be stuck with LIEberman and Dodd for years, and we ended up with do-nothing Congressman John Larson ('RAT from East Hartford) due to redistricting.

Fox News and FR are godsends! :-)

[DollyCali]

Could someone sitting somewhere using a computer crash the electric grid? Make it look like the system became overloaded.

They do it in the movies all the time!

Enter Arnold

[mass55th]

Anyone else go down?

Kind of a personal question don't 'ya think?

All kidding aside, I live in Central New York State and our power went out a little after 4 p.m., and came back on about 7:30 p.m. I remember the power outage of '66. Nine months later my oldest son was born. That power outage was much worse.

[Ichneumon]

I would be most concerned for those who are stuck in the middle of an upside down loop roller coaster.

That much at least is unlikely, thank goodness.

Roller coasters are built such that the cars "coast" through the loops on the momentum they gained falling down the big hill at the beginning of the ride (or a secondary hill if the coaster has more than one lift).

No electricity needed for the "looping", and if the ride loses power, the cars will be unaffected until they cycle through the ride and end up at the terminal brakes (which failsafe to "brakes on") or the next lift.

When people get stuck on coasters, unless it's due to a broken wheel or bent track, it's invariably at the "lift" portion where the electric-powered motors run the chain that hauls the cars up the incline of the big hill(s), and you hear that characteristic "click clack" sound of the safety ratchet (which prevents the cars from rolling down backwards if the lift chain or the car hook breaks).

Like, for example, this incident:

Note that this is a "hanging" coaster, that's not an upside down car. They were on their way up the lift when the ride got stuck.

[DoctorMichael]

See my Post #1804............Savage is on complaining, "Where's the President? Shouldn't he hold a Press Conference to soothe frayed nerves? No, the President is at a Funnnnd Raiser. Where's Tom Ridge? How about him?".

Sheesh!

Maybe this explains the Press Conference? >LOL<

[BulletBobCo]

This just in...power to be restored just as soon as we can convince Jerome to get back on the generator.

[Peach]

Good point.

CNN reporting that both Canadian and US officials have reached a concensus that the cause of the power outage is likely a lightening strike.

[MEG33]

We lost power during an ice storm in Dallas and it was too cold to even try to make it at home....friends across town had heat so we moved in for a day and night.Every pipe would have frozen if it had gone on for days.

[prairiebreeze]

WHAT?! Do you mean to say you DOUBT the word of the Canadian Prime Minister?? Fie! and a pox on you for sure.

Prairie heh heh

[jwalsh07]

Can't imagine what his input will be?

Unlimited megawatts at 7.2KV, 3-phase would do nicely.

[myrabach]

Not to be tooo paranoid, but wasn't there this terrorist cell near Buffalo? hummmmmmmm

[Domestic Church]

"Peter Jennings was in Ottawa today..."

So that's what caused this!

[FairOpinion]

Massive outage under investigation

In a statement issued at 6:05 p.m., Alberto Bianchetti, a spokesman for NiMo, said the cause of the power interruption is not known.

“ We are aware of speculation in the media that a failure in the Niagara Mohawk system may have caused the outage. We can’t — repeat, cannot — confirm this,” Bianchetti said.

[DannyTN]

"Did we outsource that software to India during the blackouts of 65 and 77? "

Did we outsource software that didn't exist in 65 and 77. No. And your point?

[Fitzcarraldo]

I think it's updated every 15-30 minutes, here is the PJM interconnect chart:

[prairiebreeze]

Big Canadian plant went down. Per O'Reilly....

?? shrug

Prairie

[Joe Hadenuf]

LOL, we heard it too, on a different station.

Largest power outage in US history.

[Danette]

Idle thoughts:


Ya think there will be a "baby boom" about 9 months from now?

If all those cars are just sitting there in traffic, HOW will they get gas without power?

Think of all the bids lost on Ebay tonight.

When Bush makes his speech tonight, those affected will not see it.

Ah, the Amazin Race is on....

[lelio]

Aha, here's a good image off the site:



Shows that the current load for the Texas grid is way below what was projected.