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Blackout halts business
15/08/2003 00:59 - (SA)
Rachel Beck
New York - Business came to a grinding halt on Thursday afternoon when sweeping power outages cut off communication with the nation's financial centre and shut down air travel.
The blackout hit just after markets closed in New York, shutting down everything from bus service in Manhattan to Wal-Mart stores in Canada.
The American Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ reported "minimal interruption" after the close of trading. All had backup power generators. NYSE spokesperson Ray Pellecchia said no data from Thursday's trading was lost. All three markets said they planned to open Friday.
The blackouts also hit Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, and parts of Connecticut.
The nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, reported shutting dozens of stores in Canada and New York state. Other stores and businesses in the affected cities shut down early because of the outages.
The nation's largest phone company, Verizon Communications, said backup generators worked quickly and that land line service was uninterrupted. Cellphone service was lost temporarily because networks were overloaded as people around New York tried to use their phones.
Across Manhattan, people poured out of skyscrapers and started trudging home on foot. Traffic lights were out, and subways and buses stopped, too.
Transport
Some of the biggest problems hit transportation companies. In the affected cities, air travel, trains and subways were halted while roads were packed because traffic lights were out.
New York's three major airports were without power, plunging the whole country into delays.
"It's the busiest air corridor in the world up there," said Delta Air Lines spokesperson John Kennedy. "Every airline in the world flies into and out of New York."
American Airlines said all flights were stalled at 11 airports - in New York; Toronto; Cleveland; Detroit; Newark, New Jersey; Ottawa, Canada; Syracuse, New York; Buffalo, New York and Montreal.
"All flights on the ground at time of outage will remain on the ground until power is restored," American spokesperson Tim Wagner said.
The Federal Aviation Administration instituted airport ground stops at Cleveland, Newark, Kennedy and LaGuardia. That meant planes from other cities heading to those four airports could not take off.
The Federal Reserve said the outages would not cause a cash shortage at banks.
"If they need additional cash, they can certainly look to their own bank vaults and armoured carriers that they do business with," said Linda Ricci, spokesperson for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
In Cleveland, businesses closed early and sent workers home, but to little effect. Traffic lights didn't work, so the streets were flooded with parked cars.
- AP
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