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'Unexplained' blackout in US, Canada
14/08/2003 23:46 - (SA)
London - Major cities in the United States and Canada have been affected by unexplained power failures, BBC reports.
Power blackouts were reported in the New York metropolitan area and Detroit, as well as in Toronto and Ottawa, authorities said.
The BBC's David Bamford in Washington said the whole of central New York and the city's three airports are without power and people are trapped in lifts and underground trains across the city.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told Americans watching CNN that there was "no evidence" that terrorism was to blame.
The US Department of Homeland Security says it is investigating the cause of the blackouts, which is not yet clear.
Mr Bloomberg said: "I can tell you 100 percent sure that there is no evidence as of this moment whatsoever of any terrorism."
Traffic chaos
He urged New Yorkers to make their own way homes.
"It may be well into the evening before power comes back on," he said.
The mayor added that smoke from a Consolidated Edison plant in the city was due to the plant's automatic shutdown, not to a fire, as had been reported.
Thousands of people have gone onto the streets to see what is happening and roads are gridlocked as traffic lights have failed.
Power to hospitals and prisons also reported to have failed but are working on back-up generators.
Affected cities include Detroit in Michigan as well as Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio and Toronto and Ottawa in Canada.
There were reports of outages in New Jersey and Connecticut as well.
A New York state official also told CNN the Niagara Mohawk power grid was overloaded.
- News24
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