Electric service was restored to New York and much of the rest of the Northeast on Friday, while hundreds of thousands of people in the Midwest were warned that the lights may stay off for several more days.
Even as utilities warned customers of rolling blackouts along Lake Erie into New York and in Canada, they said the cause of the outage was still under investigation. A sudden electric surge and grid shutdown in northeastern Ohio was considered one possible origin of the blackout, as Canada and the United States formed a joint panel to find out what happened.
In Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm declared a state of emergency as more than 600,000 customers faced several more days of darkness. The lights went back on in Cleveland, but the city struggled to provide full service from its electric-dependent water system.
President Bush said the mammoth failure of the system was a “wake-up call” concerning the nation’s antiquated delivery network for electricity.
“The grid needs to be modernized,” he said, “the delivery systems need to be modernized.”
Despite the initial chaos and continued hardships, one of the most notable things about the blackout affecting anestimated 50 million people was the relative lack of violence. A total of four blackout-related deaths had been reported in the U.S. and Canada, and Bush called to congratulate New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the patience demonstrated by city residents–in sharp contrast to the riot-marred blackout in 1977.
Late Friday, electric service had been restored to all of New York City, although the subways remained shut after America’s most severe power outage. In parts of Manhattan the lights and, more importantly, the air conditioning went back on before dawn Friday. Other sections of the city were still without power late in the afternoon.
The most indispensable possession in darkened parts of Manhattan was a flashlight for navigating high-rises, where elevators were inoperable and stairwells were pitch black. The hottest news on the city’s rumor mill was the locations of working cash machines.
Cleveland still recovering
With insufficient power to work all the pumps that draw water from Lake Erie, Cleveland faced the worst water crisis in its history. Faucets went dry and then returned at a trickle. Two dozen National Guard tankers distributed water in the city and suburbs.
Bush, visiting a park in the Santa Monica mountains of California, said the cause of blackout was still uncertain but part of the problem was “an antiquated system” for distributing electricity.
American and Canadian authorities traded blame for the blackout, each side saying the problem originated on the other side of the international border. Other sources indicated that the problem may have originated in the Midwest.
For all the turmoil, the New York Stock Exchange opened on time. The Nasdaq exchange was also operating, although the American Stock Exchange delayed its opening because of air-conditioning problems.
About 300 traders did not leave the New York exchange Thursday, sleeping in the building’s cafeterias and boardroom, officials said. Trading was light, as market watchers suggested some customers could not reach brokers by phone.
Plenty of New York telephone customers discovered their service was working but their cordless phones were not.
Gloria Wong, a 32-year-old entertainment editor for Teen People magazine, traveled 40 blocks up Manhattan to buy an old-fashioned phone: the kind that plugs into the wall. She was one of the lucky ones.
Most major stores were shuttered, but Eli Barnathan opened for business, though not quite as usual. He felt he might as well, having spent the night guarding the stock at his U.S. Video store. With the electricity off, he could not lower the security gates. Still lacking power in the morning, he pushed a table outside the Fifth Avenue shop, loaded it with cassette recorders and proclaimed a sale.
“I make you a bargain,” he called out to passersby.
Some restaurants set out a few tables to create impromptu sidewalk cafes, hoping to sell stocks of perishable food before the heat took its toll.
More Top Picks Best Sensory Compression Clothing For Kids
New Yorkers old enough to remember the blackout of 1977–when the city was plunged not only into darkness but looting and mayhem–were pleased to find that the first night passed with reports of only minor looting.
“New Yorkers showed that the city that burned in the 1970s, when facing similar circumstances is now a very different place,” said their mayor, Bloomberg.
Many residents said their predominant feeling was one of relief, once they realized that Thursday’s power failure was not a repeat of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Making the best of situation
Encouraging non-essential city workers and the public to stay home, Bloomberg said, “There are worse things than taking a summer Friday off.”
Car traffic was light Friday. Skateboarders, in-line skaters and bicyclists took to the unusually empty streets.
Matt Johnston, 28, and his wife, Kristine, carried their mountain bikes down 18 floors to set off in search of a restaurant, where they could recharge their depleted cell phones.
“We heard there was power uptown,” Johnston said. “So we decided we would bike up north until we found a place that had power.”
Others were not privileged with such a leisurely approach to the day.
Jim Deangelis, a waste-management specialist, was still trying to get home Friday afternoon.
On the night of the blackout, “I went back to our office building, climbed 32 floors and slept in my office,” he said.
Deangelis returned to Grand Central Station to find thousands of similarly stranded people, a waiting room without lights and trains running irregularly.
Most flights were cancelled at New York’s airports, disrupting air traffic across the country. Amtrak provided only sharply limited service to Washington and did not run trains to Boston.
Christy Myers, 30, was supposed to be on her way to Hinsdale, Ill., for a weekend bridal shower but was turned away from the airport. Instead, she shared a chicken wrap on the lawn in Central Park with her fiance and her maid of honor.
“We haven’t called the restaurant yet to cancel,” said Michelle Kramer, the maid of honor. “We still have high hopes we’ll get out tomorrow.”