2003 Noth-east American blackout, what did you do?

[Dan558]

Edit *d'oh forgot the r in North

Not to sure how successful this thread may be but I'll try to make it more universal at the end. I was just recently reminded of it and now I'm curious. Who was caught in it? What did you do? Did it affect you greatly?

I can't exactly remember what we were doing but I was at a friends house with several of my friends when it happened. We were either playing video games or watching a movie but the outage stopped that. He lives right on the edge of the park so we went out to do stuff there. At some point we got the information that this was no normal blackout (forget how, maybe his parents listened to the radio or something?). We noticed a bunch of billowing smoke and decided it must be the cause so we headed out to see it, we walked way out of city limits before we decided that its too far away and we stopped at a Tim Hortons, Lucky for us they were just closing and were about to throw away their fresh, unsold donuts so we got a free snack and drinks (they said the milk in the fridge might go bad or something). So overall it broke the monotony of life and we got free donuts. I was in one of the places that last got their power back so the outage went pretty much well into the next day (I think)

Anyways for people who don't know/remember here's the Wikipedia page: Northeast Blackout of 2003 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For people who weren't there, How do you think you would react? Would it matter much to you if you unexpectedly didn't have power for a day? any other thoughts?

Here's something I've heard: 9 months after the power outage the birth rate in those areas had a noticeable increase. Anybody else hear about that? Have a source to back it up? Wouldn't surprise me if it's true.

[Unknown Entity]

I wasn't there for obvious reasons, but my step-dad's brother was because he lived/s in New York, and it just so happened on one of his last few days being there. He said that everyone was really confused for a while, and he got off work early. He was supposed to be going to a friend's place after work for a few beers and a BBQ with his girlfriend, so he headed there, and they had lit up loads of candles and did the BBQ in the dark.

We've had a few blackouts here, but not had one in a long time where I live. I vaguely remember one a few years ago over South/East London because of the snow (I think), and that went on for a while. The last one that we had was when I was at primary school. I'd just got home with my brother, and we were watching cartoons until mum got home. She'd been home a few moments, and everything just shut down.

Dinner only got half cooked in the oven, and was still pretty raw. So we snacked out for the three or four hours we were in darkness with some candles and torches. Our fire place is a gas fire, and that still worked, but it was too hot to have that on. It was almost sad when the lights came back on. xD

Speaking of blackouts... tonight is when Earth Hour is happening here. It's optional, but everyone is being encouraged to turn their lights out between 8:30pm and 9:30pm.

[motscroises]

My mother and I were shopping. I was kind of freaked out because, jeez, anyone could do anything when it's dark like that. So we left, went home, and read by candle. I couldn't sleep in my room because it was summer and the second floor was insanely hot, so I had to sleep downstairs. Our power wasn't out for that long, it was maybe two days.

[Kaiden]

I don't really remember that blackout, I was a highschool kid though so I probably just got drunk and partied like normal.


A blackout that last 4 days at my parents house happened in 2006 though. We had a huge snowfall in early October and knocked a bunch of trees down. The damage was so widespread it took them forever to clean it up. Actually didn't completely finish until the next spring because of winter. Not everyone lost power, one side of the street might not have power but the other could. It was really weird. Anyways I still had work and school but no power at home for a couple of days. So I stayed at the Campus to do my homework, took cold showers and read a bunch of books in my free time. Also went out to a few local bars that still had power to watch Sabres games(Hockey).


Here is a quick link I googled: Buffalo, New York snow storm closes schools, leaves nearly 400,000 without power - Wikinews, the free news source

[Zargabaath]

I remember that. I was at my aunt's house visiting for the summer when it happened. It was around 3 p.m. because I was napping, I had not gotten much sleep the night before, and the AC turned off randomly. It was also the day that my father and my sisters were coming up to visit as well.

As for what we did. We grilled, played some card/board games, & talked. My aunt was "telling" her daughter that she should have had walking shoes because she worked in NYC and they are good to have in an emergency - like what happened.

There was also this huge bug that my grandfather killed.

[Pete]

I remember I was plowing through the beginning of FFVI, started a new game, and then made it to Figaro... without saving. I was in the middle of the battle with the Magitek walkers and boom, the air conditioner goes out, and the tv screen faded into a pinpoint of light... along with the rest of the lights.

We just sweated our balls off, and barbecued in the backyard with all of my neighbors and friends. I got hammered with one of the hot twins from upstairs, and it was a glorious night. Except my block was the last block in NY to get power back. It sucked.