Blackout?

Jim Dye · August-14th-2003, 04:45 PM

Can anyone in NYC confirm if there is a blackout going on Downtown?

Monte Smith · August-14th-2003, 04:46 PM

I just got off the phone with a buyer at Barnes and Noble HQ NYC and he says there is a power outage.

Jim Dye · August-14th-2003, 04:49 PM

From NYTIMES homepage

Quote:

NEWS ALERT
Power Outages Reported Along East Coast; North to Toronto, South to Maryland and West to Cleveland and Detroit (4:32 PM ET)

Monte Smith · August-14th-2003, 04:56 PM

Wow.

Enforcer · August-14th-2003, 04:57 PM

It sucks.

Larry

patricia · August-14th-2003, 05:05 PM

Just watching coverage on CBC Newsworld. Apparantly New York's subways have people stranded and elevators do too.
They have no idea how extensive this is, but it's being said that this was caused by a fire at the Con Edison building in New York.

The CBC's Toronto studios only have some floors with electricity.
Not caused by terrorist attack. Outage was caused by a problem at a New York power station, which destabilized the power grid, which spread it's effects as far as Toronto and Detroit.

Traffic lights are out and gridlock is widespread, because it's rush-hour. The Niagra power station is experiencing overload. They usually back up the larger power grids.

Ron Thorne · August-14th-2003, 05:10 PM

Major power outage hits New York, other large cities

NEW YORK (CNN) --A major power outage simultaneously struck several large cities in the United States and Canada late Thursday afternoon.

Cities affected include New York; Boston, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Toronto, Ontario; and Ottawa, Ontario. The power outage occurred shortly after 4 p.m.

Much of Midtown Manhattan and Wall Street were shut down, including all area airports and the Long Island Railroad. The airports were operating on back-up power and operations were reported to be normal, officials said.

The New York City Police Department said they were trying to determine what happened. A Con Edison transformer on East 14th Street in Manhattan was afire, CNN learned.

Thousands of people could be seen leaving buildings and walking into the streets. New York subways were reported stopped and people were trapped in the cars.

August-14th-2003, 05:14 PM

Holy mackeral! Thats a HUGE outage!

August-14th-2003, 05:21 PM

If anybody has Foxnews, check it out. They are showing helicopter shots of New York City. Cars and people just stacked up as far as the eye can see. Amazing!

Thats gotta really suck.

graypencil · August-14th-2003, 05:24 PM

I'm really surprised that the JC site is still up ..

Lois ..where's the server farm for JC located? ..the Azores? Anarctica?

Jazzzoline · August-14th-2003, 05:34 PM

Blame it on LovSan!

mke · August-14th-2003, 05:48 PM

I haven't experienced any difficulties so far. Can't by that bad, if the NEW YORK Times is still operational...

Lois Gilbert · August-14th-2003, 05:53 PM

I'm going to be quick cause I'm on a modem and I have a little less than 3 hours on my notebook. Of course when I was kicked off and the lights went out, I thought I hadn't paid my electric bill. This is huge and potentially devasting - esp in this heat.

Our server location is top secret in an undisclosed underground bomb shelter. Do you think I would take the chance that you guys couldn't post....

RainyDay · August-14th-2003, 06:01 PM

I'm listening to news radio and eyewitness accounts of what's happening. Times Square with no lights. Pretty weird. I hope you all will be okay. Drink LOTS of water. Dehydration is a mutha.

Ron Thorne · August-14th-2003, 06:03 PM

I think Lois has some of thelil's gerbils working overtime to keep this puppy runnin'. Jazz Corner ain't runnin' on batteries, folks.

Hang in there, Lois, and everyone else who's affected by this.

moneyp · August-14th-2003, 06:06 PM

FYI, server farms are usually hosted on their own independent grids. That's why JC (and several other sites) aren't down.

bluenoter · August-14th-2003, 06:10 PM

Fuck, fuck, FUCK! Tonight at 7:00 is Dennis's NYC gig with Dean, Hopper, and Matus.

Take care, New Yorkers and those in other affected locations! (Hmm--I guess only those on laptops might be able to read this.)

Lois, thanks for keeping us posted!

Jazzzoline · August-14th-2003, 06:22 PM

I have a thought for you guys.. directly from my non-heated pool

Jimmy Cantiello · August-14th-2003, 06:32 PM

This is really strange. As Ron posted, there's an enormous area blacked out. I was at the gym working out when it happened. I drove home and instinctively pushed my garage door opener and it worked! What the? On the way home the radio was describing just how extensive this blackout is. They said it was the largest blackout in twenty years. They did say that it was "spotty". I guess my house is in one of the "good" spots. No loss of power here and I live only a few miles from the gym.

The first thing I thought of when the power blew is how it was going to effect Dennis' gig. Then I thought about hospitals and the like. Hey, I got my priorities straight. Oh, one other thing. I can't believe that Rita would use such language! Lois or Mone, can you please clean up Rita's language? I'm blushing...............

al j · August-14th-2003, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy Cantiello

The first thing I thought of when the power blew is how it was going to effect Dennis' gig.

At least it'll reroute Dennis' thinking when he wants to plug in his wah pedal.

Ok New Yorkers, get naked! The news has been dry lately.

bluenoter · August-14th-2003, 06:35 PM

Jimmy, I saw that you were online, and I was hoping that you'd post. I'm glad you're okay! Yes, we both had our priorities straight in thinking about Dennis's gig first. (Hospitals have emergency generators, but the Bowery Poetry Club doesn't.)

I'll ignore the rest of your post.

Edit: I'm also thinking about how Dennis will be if he has to stay in a small, essentially windowless hotel room without A/C--assuming that he could even get up to the room in the dark.

bluenoter · August-14th-2003, 07:11 PM

Blackout-affected folks who are online--Would you post and tell us how you're doing, please?

graypencil · August-14th-2003, 08:16 PM

I'll betcha DEnnis will play the gig just fine ..he's from Dallas and therefore somewhat acclimated to rificulous heat ..and he's been at it long enough to play acoustically if necessary without much trouble ( hope he's using acoustic bass on the gig )

Go gettum Dennis !!

bluenoter · August-14th-2003, 08:29 PM

Graypencil--Would you believe no electric light in the club, no public transportation, and gridlocked streets--for all I know, that is?

IMO it would be a miracle if the gig wasn't canceled.

Canuck Don · August-14th-2003, 08:35 PM

Power just come on few min. ago. at 8:15 p.m. went out a bit after 4:00 p.m. My whole town, Niagara Falls, Some parts of New York State...Clev, Wash.and up to Ottawa radio said.It was close to 100 F. this afternoon.No wonder power burn out.Said Niagara Mohawk power co. overloaded..too many fans, air cond. on . It was an oven in this house the while it was off. Thank goodness we have a pool My Family stated in the pool all the time it was off.

bluenoter · August-14th-2003, 08:52 PM

Thanks, Don. I'm glad that y'all are okay now.

I missed what that was about "Wash.," but the power in the DC area has been fine, and it was only in the low 90s today. Only thing is, a lot of planes and trains outta here have been canceled.

Monte Smith · August-14th-2003, 09:06 PM

I'm definitely keeping posters from my former home of NYC in my thoughts. You know what? Have fun! A big power outage has some hazards associated with it, but it also sounds like fun. My wife used to work at Mt. Sinai hospital during one blackout during a blizzard in the 90s and she reported how many couples reported to delivery rooms pregnant nine months later with "Blackout Babies." They even gave out t-shirts to commemorate the event. Whoo hoo! To repeat what everybody knows, New York is the greatest town in the world.

bluenoter · August-14th-2003, 09:34 PM

I see that Brian is posting. Does NYC have power now?

And Captain Hate--Is/was your part of Ohio affected?

Brian Olewnick · August-14th-2003, 09:39 PM

Well, THAT was a lot of fun.

Lost power a bit after 4PM, checked to make sure a dept. I was covering for was ok, hung arounf 'til 5 and then decided to hoof it. I was up on 5th Ave and 102nd St and walked all the way down to the West Side Highway and 46th (about 5 or 6 miles) where there was a huge line for the ferries over to Jersey. Had no idea where in Jersey they'd stop but at least I'd get across the water. Waited about two hours on line (no physical fun but there were enjoyable people to chat with around me) and finally boarded the boat. We ended up in Weehauken (About across from 34th St Manhattan) where the power was also out. Began trudging toward Hoboken, where I could make out the glimmer of traffic lights. Part of the town still had power. Found a deli, got some change (this might be the ONE time in my life I wouldn't have minded having a cell), called the lovely Linda to pick me up. Power was spotty on the way back but Jersey City (at least our part) apparently never went down. Weird, but I'm glad. The AC feels nice. My legs, otoh, ache like a bitch.

Hope everyone else fared ok.

bluenoter · August-14th-2003, 09:46 PM

Brian, congratulations. I'm glad it's over.

If you have any "power is back" news re the NYC area, could you let us know? I can't find out a thing.