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The problem is the cascade. Sure, part of the grid can be taken out, but the whole thing shouldn't start to go. And that's what happened. Even if lightning or an overload did cause part of the grid to go, that section should dropped out in such a way so that the cascade couldn't happen. If I understand this properly at any rate.

On scene report (Long Island):

We lost power at about 4 yesterday PM. Got it back on finally at about 4 AM. It came on 2 or 3 times before that but didnt stay on.

I'm down here visiting my parents - all my cousins were here for a barbecue. They just got here when the power went out. We had no water or phone for the first hour, then those came on.

We had all the neighbors in for dinner - the 80 year old woman next door was in bad shape, as she didn't know what to do. She really shouldn't be living alone anymore.

The biggest problem was gas - when the cuzs went to leave they realized that some of them didn't have enough gas to get home, and no one was pumping. A neigboring town (Rockville Center) had power as they have their own station but the line at the only open gas station was miles long.
So they took my dad's car and will return and get theirs today.

For a place that was affected by 911 I was astounded at how unprepared everyone was. My parents didn't even have a working battery operated radio. We had to steal batteries out of my nephews toy to get any news.

LQ

Preventing the cascade requires swift human reaction. Some but not all automation. In the area we are talking about the grid is so dense that one false move results in this. Each station requires human hands to say uh oh and start issuing commands. It would most likely never occur in another part of the country except the West Coast. After the pinball game is over the humans really have to work hard. Restoring power is hell due to the surge/load/down again routine. Transformers and circuit breakers and even sub-stations need hands on.

I'll stick to weather.