East coast blackout-- any news?

[sturm und drang]

My best friend lives and works in Manhattan, and just called from her cell phone to say that all the power is out there and in the suburbs-- lights, AC, subways, everything-- and that they're evacuating her building. Then her phone cut out.

What's going on?

[Big Boy Laroux]

I heard it's in like detroit as well... and toronto.

[sturm und drang]

I'm getting the same "out of service" message on her cell phone I got on 9/11...

I can't find anything on the cause. Anyone know?

Strange that it seems somewhat geographically dispersed...

[Drbio]

A major power outage simultaneously struck several large cities in the United States and Canada late Thursday afternoon. A New York state official said the outage came when the Niagara-Mohawk power grid failed. Officials don't believe the outage is related to terrorism.

[Dooby]

It is the Niagra Power grid; it went down per CNN. No evidence of terrorism.

[u2sarajevo]

All I know is our east coast offices you cannot reach. I was IM'ing a guy in Cleveland and he asked me if I heard about the outages. I asked him what he was talking about and then nothing.... can't call or anything.

Very odd.

[Drbio]

NPR is reporting that a Nuclear Power plant had to shut down quickly due to a loss of power. This has to be related.

[Drbio]

4 nuclear power reactors are shut down in NY and Ohio because of a loss of power. That has effected the power grid as they supply the majority of power. I imagine power will begin to trickle on soon.

[MFFL]

It's a mess - I've been watching the news and that part of the country is at a standstill.

[Smiles]

oh man...

[Chiwas]

Can't believe that whole system is so weak. It just doesn't have to happen.


Edit: In other words, America can't be that vulnerable, even thinking just in civil affairs, not involving terrorism and stuff.

[ames7]

I don't get the part where the outage in NY caused a chain rxn that spread in all directions. Why is everything connected like that? Isn't that dangerous? My roommate is visiting in NYC right now & cell phones are out. Anyone who has updates please post.

[cin]

ames
abc ... is still carrying coverage (I don't have cable)

The local Boston cable just broke in & said that Canadian officials said:
A lightning strike had struck the US side of Niagra Falls.

They say New York City is slowly getting power back.

But parts of New England was still going down when our local news was still on at 6:25.

Boston is on a separate grid than NYC.

I live in CT.

I hope you & Sturm hear from your friends soon.

Sounds like everyone in NYC is being friendly & helpful.

[Drbio]

The grid is an interesting concept. Countless generating plants of all type are attached to it (there are many grids BTW). When you produce more energy than you can use, you add your excess to the grid. There is a regulatroy commission that oversees the grid and how much energy can be absorbed. When the grid nears capacity, the commission tells plants to shut down or else we would see our lights get really bright right before they burst (among other things). Anyways, grids are much needed and they usually need to be very large. I'm not sure why this particular system went into failure yet, but I assume that it had something to do with an overload or a major hub failure.

[veruca salt]

Just flicked on CCN now...wow...out of control.

[veruca salt]

Haha, just heard them say that News stations in NY are still broadcasting, but
no one is watching....obviously.
Weirdness.

[MavsFanFinley]

Scary stuff. I was out of town and without a tv and a friend called.

I came home and it's crazy to see all those people out in the street walking around.

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: MavsFanFinley
Scary stuff. I was out of town and without a tv and a friend called.

I came home and it's crazy to see all those people out in the street walking around.

CNN reported that the subways carry over 7 million people daily. Since the subway could work and the traffic jams held up the busses....people started walking home. It was like a parade or somesuch. Very odd.

[veruca salt]

Apparently some people have been walking for 3 hours!
I also heard them say on CNN that it could be several days until
the power is back on in Michigan...i don't know what that means for the
rest of the states....

[signoftimes]

My girlfriend is working in Toronto on a project and comes home on the weekends. Her flight leaves toronto, has a layover in Detroit and then comes to Dallas. Her flight has been cancelled. The building she works in is still blacked out, but she does have power in her hotel. Also, I've been getting a busy tone about half the time I call her cell, but their landlines are working fine. She also told me that the gas stations are closed because the pumps haven't gotten electricity to run them.

This is the biggest interruption to the airline industry since 9/11.

Just thought I'd give an update [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[FishForLunch]

Yahoo News

[Evilmav2]

Well at least supermarket pillaging, and water rioting hasn't begun yet...