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The Big Blackout Of 2003 Was 9 Years Ago Today
By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 14, 2012
Modified Aug 14, 2012
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 14, 2012
Modified Aug 14, 2012
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Skyline sans lights, 2003 (via AP)
Around 4:10 p.m., turn out all the lights and relive this day as it was in 2003: today is the 9th anniversary of the big blackout that hit New York City and other parts of the Northeast, Midwest, and Canada. The following day we published just one post here on Gothamist, showing photographs from around the city taken that night. People were walking many miles and over bridges to get back home; others were stuck in subways; and eventually most found their way to a bottle of semi-cold beer. Do you remember how you spent the time?
As the NY Times reported the next day, "shortly after 4 p.m., the grid that distributes electricity to the eastern United States became overloaded. As circuit breakers tripped at generating stations from New York to Michigan and into Canada, millions of people were instantly caught up in the largest blackout in American history." Here's a dark Times Square:
Shortly after the lights went out, Bloomberg made an announcement that no one really heard at the generator-powered City Hall, reassuring "a jittery world that the blackout did not appear to be caused by terrorism," before going for a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.
At 11:45 that night, CNN reported that while many states were getting their power back, "In New York City... Con Edison backed off previous predictions that power for most of the metropolitan area would be restored by 1 a.m. Friday." All in all it took about 30 hours for the power to be restored here.
You can revisit some of the older NYC blackouts right here, and share your favorite blackout memories in the comments.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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