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Abandoning cellphones Tomas Andreda, left, and Nancy Acosta, center, were among those who turned to a pay phone to call family from after the blackout hit New York City on Thursday.

Pockets of order A New York City police officer directs traffic through Times Square after traffic signals failed with the power outage.

No-fly zone Travelers at Cleveland's Hopkins Airport line up in the ticketing area. The Northeast power failure disrupted air travel nationwide.

Buzz for batteries People scrambled at a hardware store in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, hoping to power their flashlights before nightfall.

Shopping light Marie Vortkamp, left, of Detroit, and friend James Ferriole of Grosse Pointe, Mich., get supplies at a Detroit market Thursday.

Homeward bound People flock over the Brooklyn Bridge during the outage in New York on Thursday.

Car trouble A police officer carries a child as transit officials and police help passengers walk along subway tracks at the Shea Stadium/Willets Point subway station in the Queens borough of New York.

Buses look better People attempt to board the back of a crowded Manhattan bus during in New York on Thursday. The subway lines were closed down due to the outage.

Doggone it People line up at a hot dog cart on at Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario, on Thursday. ( Good for the small business man!

Making a party of it Members of the Ortiz Family have a barbecue in front of their building on East 11th Street since the blackout disabled their electric stove.

For the record books The Upper West side of Manhattan is seen from a Weehawken, N.J., park Thursday after the largest power blackout in U.S. history rolled across a vast swath of the northern United States as well as southern Canada.