15 Years Ago, Blackout Plunged the Northeast Into Darkness
Power was out for more than 30 hours.
Aug. 14 marks the 15th anniversary of the major 2003 Northeast blackout.
Lights went dark across the Northeast, plunging major cities, most notably in New York, into darkness. Power was out for more than 30 hours.
Trains and traffic lights shut down and thousands of people had to be evacuated from underground in Manhattan.
Many people thought the blackout was a terrorist attack, but then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg quickly made a statement to calm people’s fears.
The blackout was reportedly caused by a glitch at an Akron, Ohio, energy company.
It eventually caused 265 power plants to be shut down, affecting more than 50 million people across the Northeast.
RELATED STORIES
Trending on Inside Edition
Store Manager Says 911 Operator Hung Up Because She Was Whispering as Buffalo Gunman Stalked Aisles
Crime
Police Searching for Person of Interest in Mysterious Shooting Deaths of New Hampshire Couple
Crime
Anita Hill, the Optimist: Overcoming the Undoing of Roe v. Wade Is Possible 'by Pulling Together,' Hill Says
Politics
TV Reporter Becomes Center of Online Conspiracy Theory Because of a Typo
Offbeat
Georgia SWAT Officer Gets Flagged Down on Road and Saves Baby Who Stopped Breathing
Heroes