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Lightning blamed for blackout
15/08/2003 06:23 - (SA)
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| The moon rises over the Upper West side of Manhattan as a massive power blackout hits US and Canadian cities on Thursday. (George Widman, AP) |
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New York - Huge power blackouts hit New York and other major cities across
the northeast United States and Canada on Thursday trapping
thousands in underground trains and elevators and bringing commuter
chaos to millions.
The biggest blackout in US history closed airports and nuclear
power plants and caused massive traffic jams as office workers
poured out of skyscrapers in cities from New York in the east to
Detroit and Cleveland in the western United States and also Toronto
and Ottawa in Canada.
Workers in Manhattan skyscrapers filled the streets at first
fearing a repeat of the September 11 attacks which hit New York two
years ago. But President George W Bush and other leaders reassured
the public that terrorism was not involved.
"Federal officials are working with state and local officials to
get the electricity grid up and running," Bush said from San Diego,
California.
"Our goal, of course, is to do this as quickly as possible.
Obviously the sooner we can get electricity up the more normal
people's lives will become."
The outages started at 16:10. But two hours after
the lights went out and air conditioners came to a halt in stifling
temperatures.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the power was starting to
return again.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien's office said lightning
sparked a fire in a power plant in upstate New York near the
Canadian border, triggering the blackout.
Bryan Lee, a spokesperson for the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, would only say that an outage at a plant in New York
state caused "some sort of cascading blackout."
But a New York Power Authority spokesperson denied there had been a
lightning strike at Niagara and several US officials said the cause
of the blackout was not yet clear.
The three main airports serving New York - John F Kennedy, La
Guardia and Newark - were all closed for a few hours, according to
the Federal Aviation Administration. Kennedy remained closed into
the evening.
Detroit and Cleveland airports also closed as a precaution and
flights in and out of Ottawa and Toronto were also disrupted.
The blackout also led to the closure of seven US nuclear power
plants in the affected area.
The New York subway came to a standstill, leaving thousands of
stranded passengers to be rescued by police. Grand Central Station
was closed and evacuated after it was plunged into darkness. The
United Nations headquarters was also evacuated.
Long walk home
Traffic lights went dead and main roads in the city were choked
with cars and people on foot trying to leave the downtown area.
Many women took off their shoes when they realised they faced a
long walk home.
Tens of thousands of cars were also caught in bumper-to-bumper
gridlock in Detroit and Cleveland as commuters fought their way
home.
Bloomberg said there were no reports of injuries from the
blackout. He said emergency services were working normally and
there were no fires or criminal activity reported.
Restarting power would "take a decent amount of time, hours, not
minutes, and nobody really can be any more specific than that," he
said, asking New Yorkers to turn off electrical appliances, to
reduce demand when power was restored.
New Jersey state Governor James McGreevey authorized National
Guard troops to assist police and help stranded commuters get out
of New York, spokesman Michael Rasmussen said.
By late Thursday, Detroit Edison had restored power to a couple
of thousand customers in rural southeastern Michigan, but warned it
could be the weekend before major urban centres returned to normal.
"The more populous areas, like Detroit, won't be reconnected
until the electric system is stable," said Edison spokesperson Scott
Simons.
In Toronto, witnesses and media said elevators in many buildings
stopped suddenly, trapping people inside, and cell phone service
was interrupted.
Elevator companies called in every available technician to help
people stuck in lifts.
New York has faced major blackouts four previous times. In
November 1965, some 30 million people in seven US states and Canada
were plunged into darkness by the failure of an electrical relay.
Two people died in a July 13, 1977, blackout that sparked
massive looting, causing nearly 1$bn in damages.
Bloomberg paid tribute to the way New Yorkers had handled the
outages this time.
"There's nobody that's a bigger fan of New Yorkers than I am,
and I think you're seeing the very best of the best," Bloomberg
said.
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