Blackout in New York

It's been an interesting few days observing from afar the thoughts of the American public regarding their blackout experiences. There've been some really interesting collections of links on different sites and weblogs - espcially these one evalu8, a vancouver based site, a boingboing discussion forum FULL of links, Suburban Peril, Gothamist, and of course the NY Times. I know their page will disappear in a few days, so here's a little highlight:
"Telephone service was disrupted, especially calls to and from cellular phones. Most of the problems, telephone company officials said, had to do with heavy use. Officials said the trouble was compounded by power failures at some cellular transmitters. Cash-dispensing teller machines were also knocked out, so people who did not have cash on hand could not buy flashlights, batteries or other supplies.

The power failure exacted a variety of tolls in Michigan and Ohio, tying up the freeways in Detroit, forcing the cancellation of minor league baseball in Toledo, Ohio, and sending Jennifer M. Granholm, the governor of Michigan, into emergency meetings without the use of lights or computers.

In Times Square in New York, billboards instantly went dark and the city was left without traffic lights and the usual sounds of rush hour. Volunteers directed traffic with mixed success. Some stores in Manhattan closed as cashiers fumbled with registers that no longer toted up purchases. The Metropolitan Museum of Art emptied out, but not before some art lovers had pulled flashlights from backpacks and purses and trained them on paintings.

In a city still jittery from the Sept. 11 terror attack, some people worried as they tried to find their way home. "All I could think was here we go again — it's just like Sept. 11," said Catherine Donnelly, who works at the New York Stock Exchange.

Mr. Pataki said he had ordered the National Guard to assist state and local authorities, but New York City officials said the Guard's aid was not necessary.

Police officials in the city said they first responded as if the power failure had been the work of terrorists, and with the concern that the city was suddenly vulnerable. Heavily armored officers were sent to likely targets and emergency command operations were begun in every borough.

The officials said that the city was mostly calm in the first hours of the blackout, and that every precinct in the city had moved to control traffic at critical intersections.

By midnight, though, the police reported several incidents of looting and bottle throwing in Lower Manhatan and Brooklyn.

So there was no air conditioning, no television, no computers. There was Times Square without its neon glow and Broadway marquees without their incandescence — all the shows were canceled. So was the Mets game against the San Francisco Giants at Shea Stadium. And there was a skyline that had never looked quite the way it did last night: the long, long taut strings of the bridges were dark, the red eyes that usually blink at the very top not red, not blinking.

As the lights came back on, officials estimated that 10 percent of the city's households again had power by 10 p.m. About that time, power was also restored in Newark and Buffalo.

"This is a very, very slow deliberate process, and you have to be very careful how you do it, or you will have the whole system fail again," said acting superintendent of New York State police, Wayne E. Bennett.

Mr. Bloomberg said the subways had been evacuated safely and that he believed the rescues of people from stuck elevators had gone smoothly. But one woman, after having walked down 18 flights of stairs at a Midtown office building, collapsed and died as passers-by, rescue workers and paramedics tried to save her.

As the afternoon dragged on with no lights and no word on how soon subways and trains might resume service, some hiked home. Others filled bars. A Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on East 14th Street near Avenue B gave away ice cream, one scoop to a customer. The Haagen-Dazs shop near Union Square had a "power outage sale," selling cups and cones for $1 apiece.

Drivers, benefiting from suddenly very essential radios, flashed news bulletins to people in the street. "It's a major grid, and it's out from Toronto to Ohio," Sharon Dennis told a throng that had gathered around her green Ford Taurus on West 34th Street shortly before 6 p.m. "They say they don't know how long it will take to restore power."


Especially worrying to me is the idea that this could just as easily happen here - the company that owns the power station that (supposedly) sparked it off - called Niagara Mowhawk- is Britain's own National Grid Company. The BBC News yesterday was quoting Newcastle University Professor Ian Fells, and energy 'expert' saying that the UK system was perhaps going to have as many as 21 weeks in January and February in which the company may not be able to "meet their obligations" - ie provide power. This is up from the estimate of 7 weeks this year when the possibility of power outages were expressed, and that's a LONG period - half the year!
What I enjoyed hearing about was the camaraderie that was abound. People sleeping on the streets, running a hose outside with glasses for people walking by to have a drink from, dancing in the streets. Just the number of people walking was impressive in the NY TIMES photos amongst others. At times in London I've wondered how few people you really see around - as there are supposedly around 4 million in central London alone. This shows what happens. With our 'modern' mass transit systems, people get from A to B so quickly that you can at times hardly notice they're there.