|
'Night of terror'
15/08/2003 01:51 - (SA)
New York - In 1977, New Yorkers were plunged into darkness on a sweltering night that sent looters into a frenzy and left the city teetering near anarchy.
New York City and its northern suburbs lost all electrical power in the July 13 blackout. It was the second time in 12 years. In 1965, a power outage darkened much of the northeast in what was a much larger but far less chaotic event.
The 1977 blackout lasted 25 hours and forced New Yorkers to endure what Mayor Abraham Beame later called "a night of terror."
It began when a burst of lightning knocked out Consolidated Edison's power lines in Westchester County. Alternate power sources weren't tapped in time and by 21:36 about 8 million people were without electricity.
Before midnight, civil disturbances were raging in all five boroughs and looting had erupted in several neighbourhoods.
Hardest hit was Brooklyn's Bushwick section, where one-third of the 143 stores on a 30-block stretch suffered fire damage. In one four-block area, every major store was stripped clean. Fire damaged a Woolworth's store so badly it had to be levelled the next week.
One witness, police captain Timothy Driscoll of the 77th Precinct, later compared the crowds to "bluefish in a feeding frenzy."
Power was restored the next night. By then more than 1 700 stores across the city had been looted or damaged and more than 3 000 people arrested. Property damage estimates were as high as $150m.
The violence was a far cry from the November 9, 1965, blackout in which New Yorkers showed a gentler side. Volunteers directed traffic and people threw blackout parties. There were fewer than 100 arrests.
That blackout began around rush hour when a transmission line relay failed as power lines operated near maximum capacity between Niagara Falls and New York City. The resulting grid failure also darkened much of New England and parts of Pennsylvania.
|
News
