Easten Blackout.

Canadian Bit · #1 08-15-2003, 01:22 PM

Yep. At 4:11 yesterday 1/2 Eastern Canada/US lost electicity. [i] got power back 12 and 1/2 hours later. To conserve electricity I was off the computer untill now. I'm back now. Post your story about this blackout-the Biggest Blackout.

#2 08-15-2003, 05:05 PM

well, i was talking to my sister in New Jersey aroun 4:00 and then all of a sudden the line went dead. i turned on the tv and was channel surfing and saw BREAKING NEWS FLASH on CNN. then i understood why the line went dead. this is the only way i was affected, but it is my understanding that the farthest out states got power back first, because my sister called about 6 hours after it happened. but this morning, i wnet outside to get the paper(i live in a condo and there is timer-controlled hall lighting) and i picked up the paper and started reading about the blackout and the hall lights went out. "OH NO ITS HAPPENING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT!!!"

Namuna · #3 08-15-2003, 06:35 PM

I work on the 40th floor of a large financial bank in Midtown Manhattan, so when the Blackout occured I was right in the middle of it.

It occured right around 4pm, as they all stated. I didn't leave my building til around 6pm though, I figured I'd let some of the people get to where they needed to go and let it settle down before I went out.

I was going to hang around a little longer, but my building was evacuated, since there was no elevators, I had to trek it down 40 flights of stairs. I get to street level and the streets (I'm not talking just the sidewalks, I'm talkin the STREETS) were loaded with people walking this way and that. The Subways are out so I have to hoof it to Port Authority to pick up my usual bus to get home.

After taking that long walk down to the Port Authority, lucky me! The station is completely closed! There were literally THOUSANDS of people all hanging around the front and trying to figure out what to do to get home.

After awhile they started running the buses, in the emergency situation they decided that ALL buses are going to the Meadowlands Stadium as a staging area and from there the specifica bus lines were setup and people could take what they needed.

Unfortunately it was PURE HAVOC at Port Authority with the buses and it took me almost 4 hours for me to FIGHT my way into a bus!

All in all I finally made it home after 11pm.

I don't have access to my regular website at the moment, so I've put the pictures I took over at Sony's Imagestation, check it out.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?i...86&mode=invite

Canadian Bit · #4 08-15-2003, 06:56 PM

Hmm, if I were you I'd just walk home. I was actually watching a DVD when it came off [I had taken the day off- my left wrist was badly sprained in a painful fall which also resulted in 5 cuts]. It's recoverd 75% now so I can type [but 10X slower].

turtle · #5 08-15-2003, 07:41 PM

hey guys- i got hit by the black out but it was just for a sec. i was so mad bcause i was playin a game on the last level when it went out.
Namuna- that really suxs that u got stuck on the 40th floor AND had to wake down the stairs. also those are really good pics.

slugbugg · #6 08-16-2003, 09:54 AM

I was on my computer when the blackout hit, I was also watching tv and the tv went on and off a few times then nothing but I did get to test my battery backup device on the computer and it worked great. I sensed this was a big problem (we never lose power for more than a second) and shut the computer down.
I went out to my car got my police scanner and portable tv and got the news of the major blackout.I have a power inverter that allowed us to run our regular tv, some lights and a fan off our 92 tracker.

We did pretty good considering.I dont think we are completely out of the woods yet and we still have that boil water alert to deal with.I am so glad I put in for a vacation day for friday, I didnt even have to worry about dealing with work through all this.

sessiz10 · #7 08-16-2003, 05:55 PM

We lost power for about 5 hrs. No big deal.

slugbugg · #8 08-16-2003, 09:47 PM

yeah five hours wouldnt be to big of a deal, try going 32 1/2 hours and uncertain of when it will be back.

I try not to look at how bad it was (we did very well actually)but how to be better prepared for things like this in the future.It is still not over, yes we have power but from what officials say the power is very close to failing(rolling blackouts) here in detroit and actually there have been a few isolated areas that have lost it for a short time after getting power.The biggest problem now is the boil water alert.

On the plus side, the weather is much cooler now and we now have a spotlessly clean refrigerator and I have a small list of things I want to change as far as preparedness goes.

I'm so glad this happened in the summer because winter power loss's are a real pain.