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Massive Power Outage on US East Coast

Darn!

Seems to be a few people from New Haven reading macrumors!
Yes I noticed the same thing. Our building was out, while I could see the traffic lights working on the next block. Unfortunately, I lost one of my samples on the mass spec I was working on. Darn! Strange. The power outage occurred almost at the same time as I turned the machine on...
Lucky too that I have a PowerBook, with battery back-up...
Anyway, power is now restored here, so things look like they're getting back to normal. I just hope not everything has melted in my refrigerator back home :(
 
I'm just north of Albany, power came back on about 7:45ish... Went off at 4:15. I always find it amusing about how much we depend on electricty for just about everything! No cell service, only battery and phones (& candles). Good luck for those of you still without power! They said possibly rolling blackouts though tonight... :(
 
well luckly for me, in canada electricity wise, each province has its own unique power company, there is just one company per province, anyways here in the province of Québec we still have all our power, Ottowa Ontairio doesnt have power, and they are write acrose a small river from us. Hydro-Québec (our power supplier) usualy sells electricity to north eastern american, powersupply companies, in the summer (air conditioning takes lots of power) and winter(as does electric heating) so thats why you usualy dont have power black outs. but i guess the ontairio/newyork state lines are linked together in a way that when one goes out they all do...


aehtier
 
I remember back in the 70s or 80s when the power went out in NYC. There will be a whole bunch of blackout babies in 9 months ;)

It is amazing, though, that such a huge area can be affected and that they're not 100% sure why it happened. :confused:

I'm just glad it didn't happen down here in DC tonight - its still in the 80s and very humid. We'd be sleeping in the car with the airconditioning going.....

D
 
Yeah, I thought that I am stupid. I posted a new thread thinking this hadn't already been posted.

Anyway, this really brings into question the quality of our power grids. I hate to agree with Bush, but he's right. If a minor mishap causes such an avalanche effect, there has to be something wrong with our current system.

As for the here and now, I hope that all those who had to endure this fiasco are doing all right and that their walks home today were not too long or unpleasant.
 
Originally posted by themadchemist
As for the here and now, I hope that all those who had to endure this fiasco are doing all right and that their walks home today were not too long or unpleasant.
Click to expand...

The odd thing about power blackouts like this is that you really gain an appreciation for things we take for granted. Also its like a holiday of sorts - a change of pace - something special.

Sure its a pain at times, but then, like I mentioned earlier, there will be a whole lot of babies born in 9 months. It pretty much a good thing, gain appreciation and getting to do something different.

D
 
Gotcha

I convinced my mom to buy an eMac and she got one yesterday for her birthday.

Today she called me up, saying that she couldn't get the computer to turn on.

Wheels started spinning in my head, and finally I realized -- SHE LIVES IN DETROIT!

Yes, she was kidding me.

-Aaron-
 
Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
The odd thing about power blackouts like this is that you really gain an appreciation for things we take for granted. Also its like a holiday of sorts - a change of pace - something special.

Sure its a pain at times, but then, like I mentioned earlier, there will be a whole lot of babies born in 9 months. It pretty much a good thing, gain appreciation and getting to do something different.

D
Click to expand...

Yeah, my dad was telling me about the blackout babies the last time this happened. I thought that was hilarious...But I guess that when you take away all the electronic "distractions," you can get back to the more basic things in life. Yep, nothin' like some good ol' procreation!
 
Upstate situation

I live upstate, near Albany. Our house lost power for about 1 minute, then we had low power for about 10 minutes. After that, full power all day, except for a minor shortage below the max. All the towns nearby didn't have power at all for hours, and some still don't. We aren't sure if our neighbors have any power or not - but we know we got lucky.
 
I live in Upstate NY, about an hour south of Syracuse and we just got the power back about a half an hour ago. We were without power for about six and a half hours.

There were parts of Binghamton that never lost power. Seems kind of strange how it all happened.
 
wow. all of you people are really lucky. my iMac took about 10 minutes to boot up after the power came back on at about 10:30. when it first happened, i was thinking it could have ben an attack
a failure
or the MSBlaster virus hitting the electric companies:p

it was really scary not being able to do almost anything. mostly everything in my house is electric. i even have an electric stove! nothing could be cooked.
 
Originally posted by themadchemist
Yeah, my dad was telling me about the blackout babies the last time this happened. I thought that was hilarious...But I guess that when you take away all the electronic "distractions," you can get back to the more basic things in life. Yep, nothin' like some good ol' procreation!
Click to expand...

Actually . . . the whole "blackout babies" thing is a myth. The reason why people believe the birthrate shot up during the NY Blackout back in the 60's or 70's is because it was only compared with the birthrate for that same day a year ago - overall however, the birthrate for the blackout day was lower than normal.

Is birthrate the correct term or should it be "conception rate" or something - I can't remember. Anyhow, I'm sure you guys know what I mean. It is a nice thought though, but come on, we all know that sex is the devil!
 
NYC back for now!

I'm posting from Nassau County and the power is back.

And I can see into Little Neck <-----> Queens and the power is also up and running, *though* the Commerical power for my shoping center is still out.


I will post when I get up today, just wanted to post.

:p
 
The news is saying that the closest affected areas to me are in northern Ohion. I got to work today in Georgetown, KY, and half of our plant was out of power. Unfortunately, my half had power. Of course the robots in the body shop had to be reprogrammed, so we got a nice 1.5 hour break, and then we got to go home with no overtime so the other departments could rebuild their inventories! Woo-Hoo! (We usually work .5-1.5 hours past the normal quitting time each day.) Anyway, the official memo related our power failure to the big one across the Northeast and Midwest, but none of our neighboring towns lost power. Being the largest auto plant in the world, we use a lot of juice. Therefore, we don't get our power from the same portion grid as the local community. I'm not sure exactly where it comes from, though. I guess time will tell whether this was a freak coincidence or if it were related to the "other" blackout.
 
M$ worm caused the initial grid failure!

At this time officials have no idea what caused this mess. I'd like to think that M$ is to blame. Once the worm hit.... blackout!
 
Well it's the day after, I couldn't get to macrumors yesterday cause the power outage knocked some key servers around here (NE Ohio) out which made the web sparatic. We (the radio station I work at) had our power turn off and for a little while we were running off generator, but it quickly switched back to real power. a couple of our repeater stations were off the air for a little while but they're fine now. I thought it was nuts watching the news and seeing the images of all the people in the streets. And I loved the image of the New York skyline at dark, just a large black mass. a couple of my friends who work in Cleveland luckily had the day off.

Another thing... we have a generator that kicks on when the power goes off... but there were a lot of big commercial radio and tv stations that went off the air when the power went out... guess they'll be investing in generators now!
 
well, i heard on the news that there was a lightning strike on the canadian side of Niagara Falls that caused it.
that's what i heard on the news yesterday.
 
They don't have the slightest clue what caused it and everyone is pointing fingers around. Some one claimed that lightning struck on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, the Canadians are saying something about it going out in Pennsylvania, and some are saying that something happened in New York. They need to stop pointing fingers and just figure it out.
 
This article is hilarious! Suggestions from Iraqi's on how to deal with the power outages (which they have plenty of experience with).

Click Here!

BAGHDAD, Iraq _—_Iraqis who have suffered for months with little electricity gloated Friday over a blackout in the northeastern United States and southern Canada and offered some tips to help Americans beat the heat.

From frequent showers to rooftop slumber parties, Iraqis have developed advanced techniques to adapt to life without electricity.

Daily highs have soared above 120 degrees recently as Iraq's U.S. administrators have been unable to get power back to prewar levels. Some said it was poetic justice that some Americans should suffer the same fate, if only briefly.

"Let them taste what we have tasted," said Ali Abdul Hussein, selling "Keep Cold" brand ice chests on a sidewalk. "Let them sit outside drinking tea and smoking cigarettes waiting for the power to come back, just like the Iraqis."

Here is a top 10 list compiled on the streets of Baghdad:

—10: SLEEP ON THE ROOF. Without power — and hence without air conditioning — Iraqis have taken to climbing up stairs in the hot nights. Some install metal bed frames on rooftops, while others simply stretch out on thin mattresses. "We sleep on the roof," said Hadia Zeydan Khalaf, 38, wearing a black head-to-toe abaya in the hot sun. "It's cooler there."

—9: SIT IN THE SHADE. Many Iraqis go outside when the power's off. "We sit in the shade," said George Ruweid, 27, playing cards with friends on the sidewalk. Of the U.S. blackout, he said: "I hope it lasts for 20 years. Let them feel our suffering."

—8: HEAD FOR THE WATER. "We go to the river, just like in the old days," said Saleh Moayet, 53. Several people said they had seen American beaches on television, and suggested they might be a good place to sit out the blackout. "They have so many beautiful beaches," said Hamid Khelil, 44. "They should go where it isn't so hot."

—7: SHOWER FREQUENTLY. "I take showers all day," said Raed Ali, 33. "Before I go up to the roof to sleep, I take a shower and I'm cooler."

—6: BUY BLOCKS OF ICE. When refrigerators shut down, there's no better way to keep food cool. Mohammed Abdul Zahara, 24, sells about 20 a day from a roadside table. "When it's hot people buy a lot of ice," he said.

—5: CHECK FOR BITTER-ENDERS. "They should go to the power stations and see what the problem is," suggested Ahmed Abdul Hussein, 21. "Maybe there are followers of Saddam Hussein who are sabotaging their power stations. That's what happens here."

—4: GET A GENERATOR. Abbas Abdul al-Amir, 53, has one of a long row of shops selling generators in Baghdad's Karadah shopping street. When the power goes out, sales go up. "I sell about 30 generators a day," he said. "When the shutdown lasts I can sell even more."

—3: CALL IN THE IRAQIS. Some suggested the Americans ask the Iraqis how to get the power going again. "Let them take experts from Iraq," said Alaa Hussein, 32, waiting in a long line for gas because there was no electricity for the pumps. "Our experts have a lot of experience in these matters."

—2: USE FOUL LANGUAGE. "When the power goes out, I curse everybody," said Emad Helawi, a 63-year-old accountant. "I curse God. I curse Saddam Hussein. And I curse the Americans."

—And the No. 1 suggestion among Iraqis for Americans suffering without power: TAKE TO THE STREETS. Some said demonstrations can be effective in persuading authorities to turn on the switch. "We held protests. After that we had fewer blackouts," Ahmed Abdul Hussein said without even a hint of sarcasm. "I'd suggest Americans go out and demonstrate."
Click to expand...
 
I'd like to take this opportunity to soap-box...

...and say that the people of New York City have really come through as a shining example of how people can pull together and get through a tough (albeit, short) time. Up until yesterday, New York had a 1win/1 loss record with blackouts: The '65 blackout was calm and fraternal; the '77 blackout was a bout of predatory anarchy.

For anyone who hasn't heard, last night bars and restaurants stayed open, lit with candles and acoustic instruments were out in force (at least in the Greenwich Village area). While it's my understanding that there were about 20 arrests for looting in Brooklyn, I think we all realize that things could have been much worse had New Yorkers not pulled together to maintain our civility in a trying time.

Not every one has power at this time -- I'm writing from work, since my office is up, but my apt.'s down. (Wasn't that a tune?)

Bravo, NYC!
Bravo, all of the affected areas!
 
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