# Major Power Outage in NYC, Detroit, Toronto, and Ottawa **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 14, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229 "2003-08-14T20:40:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/1 "2003-08-14T20:40:59Z")
Holy cow, I’m watching Fox News. People are walking out of NYC. It reminds me of 9/11. Developing story… [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59083-2003Aug14?language=printer](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59083-2003Aug14?language=printer) ---
**Author:** ![Spooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Spooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spooky)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/2 "2003-08-14T20:42:40Z")
Just heard about this…reminds me of the Blackout of '65. Anybody who knows more, please post, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/3 "2003-08-14T20:44:11Z")
Just listening to the news down here (it’s 7.00 am Friday) and it sounds absolutely chaotic and very frightening. Good luck to all who might be affected. Take care and keep us posted please. kam. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/4 "2003-08-14T20:49:08Z")
No traffic lights, no subways. No computers. Holy cow. ---
**Author:** ![Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Second_Star_to_the_Right)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/5 "2003-08-14T21:02:53Z")
And all those people stuck in the subways, with no light or a/c, in the middle of August. Jesus. I hope they can get them out of there ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/6 "2003-08-14T21:05:38Z")
Yes, would anyone with no power right now give us a post telling us what’s going on? Hmm…seems my sarcasmatron just blew up… ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/7 "2003-08-14T21:08:24Z")
Bloomberg is saying power won’t be back on until late this evening. I talked to my co-worker in NY…he said Con Ed isn’t on fire, but when they shut it down, smoke comes out of it. Take it for what it’s worth. I just hope Eve isn’t trapped in an elevator. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/8 "2003-08-14T21:10:49Z")
Well, they can use a laptop - I don’t know about hooking up to the net, though - wireless? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/9 "2003-08-14T21:13:19Z")
So I guess we’ll get our nightly news on the networks out of LA, right? WNYW…where’s that? That’s where Fox is transmitting from. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/10 "2003-08-14T21:21:03Z")
The guy on MSNBC says that whatever happened in New York caused a ripple effect in the power grid, affecting the Tri-State area, Ohio, Michigan, and parts of Canada. They’re showing lots of pedestrians right now–this group seems to be headed towards the Lincoln Tunnel. Another problem seems to be cars running out of gas. They’re piling up at gas stations, which can’t do a thing without power for the pumps. Sheesh, what a mess. And I was travelling through that area just a few days ago. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/11 "2003-08-14T21:23:54Z")
Oooooo well, obviously I wouldn’t think those who were involved in this would be online right now…but as soon as they are…I curious as to how many on here were effected and what they did/happened. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/12 "2003-08-14T21:48:47Z")
Our power flicked on and off for the better part of an hour, with about a five minute gap of no power. Considering we usually are the first to lose power for no reason whatsoever ( and why everyone around us has a generator) I’m rather pleased that I have power. Kinda makes up for the five day stint without power or phones this spring after the ice storm. Naturally, I will be withholding my ‘neener, neeener, neener’ as a precaution. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/13 "2003-08-14T21:55:56Z")
Just FYI, they say there’s no evidence of terrorism which of course is the first thing on anyone’s mind these days. The streets of NYC are just flooded with people. And it hit right at rush hour it seems. That has got to suck. In a heat wave. You’d THINK it was planned, but that’s just paranoia hopefully. Mayor says power is actually being restored now, just slowly. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/14 "2003-08-14T21:59:09Z")
Hm. Gee, I THOUGHT it was easier than usual to log on to the SDMB this afternoon… ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/15 "2003-08-14T22:02:10Z")
I caught something briefly on my local news about contacting the airport for flight information - since I didn’t know what was going on, I flipped to CNN, and saw the story about NY. I’m just amazed by the pictures of the people in the street. The scroll bar on the screen just said that the outage started in Ottowa and spread from there. Either way, I hope it comes backi for all affected as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/16 "2003-08-14T22:02:27Z")
power is coming back up in erie pa and parts of new jersey. cell phones are affected in the blacked out areas. the niagara mohawk grid is huge, and quite a bit of the states and canada are blacked out. thankfully the humidity broke in parts of the north east today. ---
**Author:** ![Spooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Spooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spooky)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/17 "2003-08-14T22:09:37Z")
I just checked, many Western NY counties have reported widespread power outages. I assume Buffalo is affected, as it is powered by Niagara-Mohawk. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/18 "2003-08-14T22:11:48Z")
I don’t know. Being trapped in an elevator with **Eve** might be fun. Sort of an Algonquin Round Table in a square box. That is until she went stark raving mad and attacked me with her lorgnette! ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/19 "2003-08-14T22:39:51Z")
Yikes. We Memphians just got our power back on. I know how it feels. I just hope this doesn’t stretch on for two weeks like it did for us. Good luck, y’all. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229/20 "2003-08-14T22:54:29Z")
A few cities are coming back online, such as Niagara-on-the-Lake and Grimsby, Ontario, and some places in NY State. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-power-outage-in-nyc-detroit-toronto-and-ottawa/195229.md?page=2)