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.

[FairOpinion]

"Being in a dark hotel room, no fresh air, no water is not manageable. "

You are right. I think they did have water, but no electricity, no elevators, no airconditioning, and I guess in many hotels these days you can't even open the windows, and I can see, that if people trip and fall in the darkness, the hotels may end up being sued.

I guess I didn't think it through.

[Captain Beyond]

There was a guy just on FOX from the Edison Co. saying it was a equipment failure. Now I don't know if he was talking about his own equipment. It could have just been a plug for Viagra.

[JustPiper]

MSNBC exerpts

Pedestrians swarmed the streets of New York City Thursday evening, as a blackout halted subways and buses, turned off traffic signals and flushed workers out of businesses where the air conditioning and elevators had suddenly stopped working. Elsewhere, from Connecticut to Canada, people did their best to cope.

In Manhattan, where finding a $1,500-a-month studio apartment is considered a coup, people were instead desperately seeking ice, water, batteries and candles.
Other people licked ice cream put at risk because of the lack of power for freezers on a day where the temperature topped 90 degrees.
For some, the scene and the experience were eerily reminiscent of Sept. 11, 2001, after the World Trade Center towers fell and rivers of pedestrians flowed across the bridges out of the city and sought other ways home when their regular transportation was blocked.

‘This might be a mistake. But I have a dog, and there’s no way I’m staying in Jersey while my dog sweats to death.’
— JON SEVERINO
Commuter waiting for a ferry to take him into blacked-out New York City

At about 6 p.m. ET, about 20,000 people waited in line to board ferries to cross to New Jersey, said waterways operations manager Michael McPhillips. The line stretched from 38th Street to 55th Street.

Shortly before 8 p.m., power returned to Penn Station, and trains began loading to leave the city again, WNBC TV reported.
In Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood, it seemed more like the 19th century than the 21st as candles illuminated the few windows with any light. In bars, people sipped drinks purchased by candlelight. Some flouted the smoking ban, their lit cigarettes glowing in the darkness that enveloped the city.

[JustPiper]

So then , 9 is not a high number?

[Pro-Bush]

Yeah, I heard it was a natural part of the shut down process to get rid of unspent fuel..fire was coming of the plumes, which normally release steam.

[JustPiper]

I did not know this, thank you! I was alarmed.

[OldFriend]

Media fails to tell the whole story.....just on the air with blah blah blah........

Pumps for water need electricity too.

Guests stumbling around in a darkened building is a VERY bad idea.

[JustPiper]

Don't know if this has been posted but it is tips for blackouts:
Weathering a blackout

What to have handy
Battery-powered flashlights instead of candles

Battery-operated radio or TV

Battery-powered clock At least one gallon of bottled water

A small, non-perishable or canned food supply

Digital kitchen thermometer to check food temperatures

Manual can opener

Dos:
Do shut all doors and windows and draw the curtains or blinds if it is warm outside and cool inside. Try moving to the lowest level of your home or building as cool air falls.

Do know how to operate your garage door’s manual release lever in case you need to use your car for an emergency.

Do treat all non-working traffic lights as four-way stops. Approach railway crossings with caution.

Do leave one light switched on so that you’ll know when power is restored.

Do tune into local radio or television stations with a battery-powered device for news updates.

Don’ts:
Do not operate a generator or charcoal grill inside your home or garage.

Do not use your gas oven as a source of heat.

Do not call 911 for updates on the power outage. Dial 911 for life-threatening emergencies only.

Do not travel unnecessarily. Traffic and road lights will likely be out, causing delays and confusion.

Do not attempt to open doors or crawl out between floors if trapped in an elevator.

Keep your refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to prevent food spoilage. Food in a freezer can stay frozen for up to two full days. Fresh food in the refrigerator will stay cool for about four hours.

Use a kitchen thermometer to check that frozen food temperatures are 40 degrees or below before eating.

When in doubt, throw food out.

Turn off and unplug appliances, electronics and other equipment such as air conditioners. This will protect against momentary but damaging surges when the power comes back on. And it helps prevent overloading the power grid when electricity is initially restored.

Do not attempt to plug a generator into an electric socket in a wall.

Do not attempt to wire a generator to your home’s electrical system

Link to what should be thrown out

[JustPiper]

On Drudge, Central Main Power Company!
IT HAPPENED IN SAME SPOT, AUTUMN 1965!


The Event

The Great Northeast Blackout of November 9, 1965 began at 5:16 p.m., near the end of an otherwise typical work day.


The event started at the Ontario - New York border, near Niagara Falls.


A single transmission line from the Niagara generating station tripped (opened).


Within 2.5 seconds, five other transmission lines became overloaded and tripped, isolating 1,800 MW of generation at Niagara Station.


After their isolation, the generators became unstable and tripped off-line.


The northeast power system became unstable and separated into isolated power systems (islands) within 4 seconds.


Outages and islanding occurred throughout New York, Ontario, most of New England, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.


Most islands went black within 5 minutes, due to imbalances between generation and load (generator overspeed/underspeed tripping).


The massive blackout left 30 million people without electricity for as long as 13 hours.

This was "the big one"… and it all started with the operation of a simple overcurrent relay on a transmission line. The design and operation of electric utility systems changed after that, due to the lessons that were learned from this event.

[JustPiper]

Exerpts from Drudge compiled:

FBI: BLACKOUT NOT CAUSED BY COMPUTER WORM...

Not an act of God as Canada claims, at least not at Niagra, no lightening activity showed on doppler.

"We're a superpower with a third-world grid. We need a new grid," New Mexico Gov. and former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson told the CNN television network. "The problem is that nobody is building enough transmission capacity."

Power was returning to some of the affected areas. By early (on) Friday, power had been restored to New York's Bronx borough and suburban Westchester County, TV networks reported.

[Timesink]

[Dianna]

Guests stumbling around in a darkened building is a VERY bad idea.

FOX interviewed people earlier who have a hotel room but are outside. The room is on the 3rd floor and with no lights in the stairwell, no electricity in the room, it sounded like they preferred to just stay outside.

I have to say, I might choose the camaraderie of fellow sufferers over being in a hot, dark, closed up room.

[Dianna]

Is Maine blacked out also?

There have been no reports of Maine having any trouble today.

[JustPiper]

Well we know all about Richardson!

[JustPiper]

And tonight the sleepers were innocent citizens that are like an open invitation on the streets of NY ;(

[JustPiper]

I've been hearing the success of flashmeets, but this is a touch silly...but I still nominate it for the least likely reason for 50 million out of power.

[JustPiper]

Do they still do that in hot blackouts? LOL!

[PurVirgo]

bookmarking my bedtime - been up too late.

I had kept up with this thread from the beginning - and I must say it has been interesting

nighty-night

[Milwaukee_Guy]

"We're a superpower with a third-world grid. We need a new grid," New Mexico Gov. and former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson told the CNN television network. "The problem is that nobody is building enough transmission capacity."

Who the hell is this guy to criticize? He was the head guy before the Bush Administration. A lot of the sins and shortcommings of the Clintonistas is comming fully home to roost.

Now that we are into the 13th hour of this mess, I find it amazing that no clear cause has been determined.

[mitchbert]

4:45am - Mid-Town Toronto back up (Yonge and Davisville).

Good street parties last night by candlelight. We'll see how busy the city is today. Best wishes, all.