10 years ago today the largest blackout in history occurred. Were you affected? I was! Pitch black night...Our family was sitting on our deck watching the stars while everyone on our block was BBQ-ing everything that was in their freezers!
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Yes! But, in a weird way.
I'm from Rochester, but I my family moved to SC when I was 16. My bff and I were driving up to NY for my cousin's wedding that weekend. On the way there, when we crossed into NY from PA, we saw a light out and said, "oh bummer, these people have no power." and that we were glad we were going into another part of the state. Then we started gabbing and saying crazy things, like, "what if the whole state was out of power?" Then we got to my grandpa's house, and he had power...but the rest of the state didn't. It was really eerie.
We also said, "what if the groom cancels on the last minute?" And he did. We feel very guilty about that whole weekend, lol.
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That was ten years ago today?? I had just started my first job after college, in NYC, but I hadn't moved yet. I worked uptown and had to walk all the way to my sisters apt in soho and didn't really know my way yet. It was sort of a fun bonding experience with the whole city though- everyone was so nice and considerate, not at all like the looting and stuff ppl were worried about. Once the trains were running we went to my parents house in nj where they had power.
It was really scary until we got confirmation that it was just a blackout though, I remember that.
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@Dandelion: oh no! You jinxed everything!
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@Foodnerd81: Yeah, I remember at first people thought it was 9/11 Part 2.
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@Foodnerd81: we did. We are very sorry, lol
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Yup! I was at a maroon 5 concert.
And then... Blackout!!
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I was a camp counselor, driving back into NYC with my campers on a school bus. There was SO.MUCH.TRAFFIC. And then I had to walk up 9 flights of stairs to my apartment since our elevator was out.
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@Rubies: exactly. And we had no radio or anything to get the news. I was able to call my mom on a land line and she turned on the new and told us about the huge blackout.
My dad also had to stay T my sisters apt and walk like 5 miles in the heat to get there. He's a big, not in great shape guy- he stunk. We made him take a cold shower (not hot water).
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Yup, I remember. I was in undergrad and was working/living on campus in NYC during that summer. I definitely thought it was 9/11 part 2 at first, and initially we were all terrified! But after we realized it was a blackout (and we weren't super affected b/c the university had backup generators), it turned out to be quite fun walking up and down Broadway, eating at all the restaurants/stores for free b/c they were trying to get rid of their food.
Can't believe it's been 10 years!
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I was working in Long Island, we got to leave work early and I remember traffic being scary because there were no lights working and no one out there directing it. I think we had power back the next day.
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Yup I remember it clearly! I had just finished final exams at university and was home for a few days. I remember calling my parents and asking them what we should do for dinner. We played board games until it was too dark and then the next day I drove to Montreal with 2 friends to go see Radiohead. Quebec still had power thank goodness!
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Wow, that was 10 years ago? My roommate and I were enjoying our summer after being laid off from our jobs. We left our apartment and went out to have some fun. My ex was a bartender and the bar was doing a blackout happy hour and restaurants were also trying to get rid of food. We stayed out partying all night.
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No but I was affected by the great ice storm of 1998 in Canada! We didn't have power for 3 weeks in the middle of the coldest part of winter. We tried to stay in our home at first but eventually we were forced to go to a shelter. School was cancelled for a whole month and I never had to make it up, ha!
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It was my summer between high school and college and I was supposed to meet up with friends but my parents wouldn't let me go since driving without any traffic lights would be dangerous...I sure put up a fight though!
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My grandpa was in surgery to clear out a blockage in his carotid artery. The surgeon had his finger in the artery when the power went out - he said it was the longest two minutes of his life until the generator came back on. My mom and grandma had to find their way home from downtown toronto in rush hour traffic with no subway running. A man came alongside them after they'd been walking for a while, helped them find a bus, got them on it, then melted away into the crowd. Grandma says he was an angel sent to help them. She's not sure how they would have made it if he hadn't helped them!
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@tinyperson: Wow what an amazing story!
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@pui: yeah, thankfully all went well and he's still with us today!
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@pui: oh my gosh.....I lived in Canada during the ice storm.
We stayed in our house overnight and volunteered at the shelter during the day.
The last week, I fell down the stairs in the dark and broke my ankle. One of the military medics had to bandage it up!
We had no power for 5 weeks and no school for a month! -
I just had to walk home from work, which was far ... but the hubs had to walk really really far. There was so much traffic he ditched his car somewhere and we had to go get it the next day. Lol. @tinyperson: oh my, amazing story!
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@pui: DH lived in MTL during the storm. They had a wood burning fire place so were able to stay home for a full 3 weeks with no power. He remembers if fondly like indoor camping.
For the blackout I was at work (I worked in a local pet store). I couldn't get a hold of my boss on his cell phone. I was afraid to leave work in case the power came back on (I didn't understand the full scope at that point). I sat in a dark pet store on a pile of dog food bags for like 4 hours waiting for 'closing time' then just locked up and hoped for the best! My boss though it was hilarious that I didn't leave. My mom thought it was ridiculous and brought me dinner. DH (BF at the time) came and sat with me to keep me company!
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@prettylizy: We had a wood burning fireplace, but it put off like no heat. 3 feet away from the fire and it was still freezing cold. We had friends who had a wood stove that actually heated their whole house, so they didn't have to go to a shelter.
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I think I was in Korea so, I was not affected!
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@pui: I remember that!
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Yes! I had to walk home from the city (I was in college at the time) and it took over 3 hours. It was so crazy. my fathers house did not have power for over 3 days.
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@tinyperson: OMG, how scary! I hadn't even thought of people in the hospital during it - seems like they would have emergency backup generators that would need to be much faster than 2 minutes for those on life support or the operating table!
I was staying the night at my grandparent's house and they had a generator, so I wasn't too affected. But the reason I was at my grandparents was because my dad was in Vegas (which wasn't affected), but my mom was back here in Michigan getting on a plane to meet him! So she had to drive to the airport in darkness and then scramble trying to find an airline that was still sending flights out. Plus all the security stuff with no power, I believe everyone was getting pat-downs. Crazy!
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Yes! Our power was off for over 24 hours. I remember the second day of the power outage was my last day of work for the summer before heading back to university. I was hoping the power would stay off all day so that I could skip my last day, but it came back on.....boo
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Yes, I was a young single Manhattanite, living in a crappy tenement across the street from Coyote Ugly. I was too broke to go out for a drink so I sat on my fire escape listening to the Yankees game on my (battery-powered) radio. Good times!
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Like @mrsjazz, I wound up in a bar that was trying to get rid of their refrigerated food and alcohol. It was all lit by candles and wound up being a fun night.
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I was working and we lost power at the library but had no idea that everyone else lost power too. My shift ended and I drove home with no traffic lights. We sat around on the back patio hanging out. Wow, I can't believe that was 10 years ago.
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once I got through the insane traffic I enjoyed the lack of light pollution and star gazed for hours on end
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