August 10-16; The Blackout Blues: How We Overcame
By Anthony Ramirez
Published: August 17, 2003
Oh, Blackout Triptych!
We took on terror and war.
Your worst? Just a pest.
The largest power failure in American history.
It began shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday. Eight states were affected, and millions of people in the Northeast, the Midwest and Canada remained without electricity at least through Friday night. Most everything was touched, from traffic lights and telephones to manufacturing schedules at automobile plants. Office buildings were evacuated, thousands of commuters were stranded and some hospitals were flooded with patients suffering in the heat. At least four deaths, two in New York City and two in Canada, were attributed to the power failure.
How did this happen?
Power industry officials say it apparently began with a failure in the Midwest that cascaded into Canada, and from there into New York. The more serious issue is why the system's computers and human operators failed to isolate and limit the trouble.
Will a precise cause be determined anytime soon?
It could take weeks.
Who was hit the worst?
Probably Detroit and Cleveland.
Power was so slow to return in Detroit that on Friday Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan declared a state of emergency in five counties, and sent thousands of gallons of water and gasoline to the city, along with state police officers and some National Guardsmen.
Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio declared a state of emergency in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, where residents were ordered to boil their water, though power had been restored to the area and to the city's four water pumping stations by midafternoon Friday.
What is the political fallout?
With tens of millions of Americans left powerless, Democrats seized the moment.
Democratic presidential contenders assailed President Bush for focusing too heavily on drilling for new sources of energy, and not on a power grid they called too old to meet the nation's electrical needs. Republicans accused the Democrats and environmentalists of colluding to prevent the overhaul of the power-transmission grid.
A new urgency will be given to an energy plan that has languished in Congress. Parts aimed at upgrading the power grid are likely to gain in importance.
Did people behave?
It certainly seemed so, at least through Friday evening.
People in New York City, which was devastated in some areas in the 1977 blackout, were on good behavior. Looters broke into several stores in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan on the first night. But crime and arrests were even below the norm, officials said.
C'mon: people behaved in New York?
O.K. Many cabbies, sellers of bottled water and flashlight peddlers may have upped their price slightly (by three or four times). But Adam Smith would not have minded.
Did the president really say ''up east''?
He did, as in ''I was pleased to hear that many of the airports up east are beginning to have flights leave, and that's good.''
Mr. Bush was out west at the time.