General Discussion

LiberalElite

(14,691 posts) Thu Nov 5, 2015, 10:54 PM Nov 2015

New Yorkers remember The Great Northeastern Blackout of ‘65 as it marks its 50th anniversary

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/great-northeastern-blackout-marks-50th-anniversary-article-1.2424805

-snip-
Monday marks the 50th anniversary of the Great Northeastern blackout of 1965 — one of the largest blackouts in U.S. history.

Eight states, plus Toronto and Ottawa in Canada — over 80,000 square miles amassing nearly 30 million people — abruptly lost power for 13 hours at 5:13 p.m. on the chilly evening of Nov. 9, 1965.

Down below, 800,000 straphangers were left trapped underground.
-snip-

I do remember this - I was doing homework with the radio on, listening to the top 20 (guess what got more of my attention). A weird noise came out of the radio and then silence. The lights went out and my grandmother thought she had gone blind.

xposted in New York.

15 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

New Yorkers remember The Great Northeastern Blackout of ‘65 as it marks its 50th anniversary (Original Post) LiberalElite Nov 2015 OP

Did they celebrate by leaving their porch lights off? JonathanRackham Nov 2015 #1

Heh. LiberalElite Nov 2015 #2

I was through a few NYC blackouts in the 70s. JonathanRackham Nov 2015 #4

a few in the '70s? I only remember the big one in 1977 nt LiberalElite Nov 2015 #6

I was in the Bronx for that one. JonathanRackham Nov 2015 #7

and my neighborhood was LiberalElite Nov 2015 #12

High rise. JonathanRackham Nov 2015 #13

I wasn't in a high rise - LiberalElite Nov 2015 #14

I saw there is a movie being made about this, and yuiyoshida Nov 2015 #15

Usually these stories are accompanied by how many babies were born 9 months later. BKH70041 Nov 2015 #3

K&R JonathanRackham Nov 2015 #5

A reminder of why decentralized power can be better than centralized. n/t PoliticAverse Nov 2015 #8

I remember this one LibertyLover Nov 2015 #9

I was in that, too. There was radio; I guess the stations had their emergency power. NBachers Nov 2015 #10

2003 Northeast blackout irisblue Nov 2015 #11

JonathanRackham

(1,604 posts)

1. Did they celebrate by leaving their porch lights off?

Reply to LiberalElite (Original post)

Thu Nov 5, 2015, 10:56 PM

Nov 2015

LiberalElite

(14,691 posts)

2. Heh.

Reply to JonathanRackham (Reply #1)

Thu Nov 5, 2015, 10:58 PM

Nov 2015

JonathanRackham

(1,604 posts)

4. I was through a few NYC blackouts in the 70s.

Reply to LiberalElite (Reply #2)

Thu Nov 5, 2015, 11:01 PM

Nov 2015

Scary but at least I wasn't underground. Nasty when they're in the summer.

LiberalElite

(14,691 posts)

6. a few in the '70s? I only remember the big one in 1977 nt

Reply to JonathanRackham (Reply #4)

Thu Nov 5, 2015, 11:05 PM

Nov 2015

JonathanRackham

(1,604 posts)

7. I was in the Bronx for that one.

Reply to LiberalElite (Reply #6)

Thu Nov 5, 2015, 11:12 PM

Nov 2015

IIRC a big feeder overloaded and a protective relay failed to kick out.

Lots of above ground power in the Bronx. Lightning strikes take out substations and whole neighborhoods. We' d sit on the East River in Silver Beach and watch Manhattan waiting for power to come back.

LiberalElite

(14,691 posts)

12. and my neighborhood was

Reply to JonathanRackham (Reply #7)

Fri Nov 6, 2015, 09:25 AM

Nov 2015

one of the last. If I hadn't moved from the Upper West Side that year, I would have had the lights back sooner. Oh well...

JonathanRackham

(1,604 posts)

13. High rise.

Reply to LiberalElite (Reply #12)

Fri Nov 6, 2015, 08:40 PM

Nov 2015

I would have been totally mortified in a high rise building.

LiberalElite

(14,691 posts)

14. I wasn't in a high rise -

Reply to JonathanRackham (Reply #13)

Sat Nov 7, 2015, 12:03 AM

Nov 2015

I was on the top floor of a fifth floor walkup. There are still a good number of them in NYC.

yuiyoshida

(41,836 posts)

15. I saw there is a movie being made about this, and

Reply to JonathanRackham (Reply #1)

Sat Nov 7, 2015, 06:00 AM

Nov 2015

Patrick Stewart is in it...

BKH70041

(961 posts)

3. Usually these stories are accompanied by how many babies were born 9 months later.

Reply to LiberalElite (Original post)

Thu Nov 5, 2015, 11:00 PM

Nov 2015

JonathanRackham

(1,604 posts)

5. K&R

Reply to BKH70041 (Reply #3)

Thu Nov 5, 2015, 11:04 PM

Nov 2015

Good way to pass the time. People should keep emergency condoms next to the flashlight.

PoliticAverse

(26,366 posts)

8. A reminder of why decentralized power can be better than centralized. n/t

Reply to LiberalElite (Original post)

Thu Nov 5, 2015, 11:13 PM

Nov 2015

LibertyLover

(4,788 posts)

9. I remember this one

Reply to LiberalElite (Original post)

Thu Nov 5, 2015, 11:24 PM

Nov 2015

I was 12 years old. It was a Tuesday evening, if memory serves In New Jersey at the time we had 2 four day weekends in November, Thanksgiving and 2 weeks earlier, New Jersey Teachers' Convention in Atlantic City. My mom was a librarian in Tenafly, New Jersey and she went to the convention. That evening she was on her way up to Catskills, New York to pick up her older sister, my aunt, who was going to come to Atlantic City with us to keep me company while mom attended the convention. Dad was making dinner when the lights went out. A few minutes after the lights went out, he managed to trip over the open oven door and get a nasty gash. I had to stop,the bleeding and put a,bandage on it. I was so glad to go to,bed and wake up the next day to lights.

NBachers

(17,135 posts)

10. I was in that, too. There was radio; I guess the stations had their emergency power.

Reply to LiberalElite (Original post)

Fri Nov 6, 2015, 12:41 AM

Nov 2015

Everyone had transistor radios back in those days, so it was like listening to a Collapse of Civilization broadcast. I went out into the cold November night and walked around our neighborhood, experiencing the weirdness all alone.

irisblue

(33,019 posts)

11. 2003 Northeast blackout

Reply to LiberalElite (Original post)

Fri Nov 6, 2015, 01:23 AM

Nov 2015

First Energy, northeast Ohio turned off a lot of the northeastern US, including NYC. First Energy is a big long term supporter of John Kasich

SNIP
If Kasich supports FirstEnergy’s latest grab for $3 billion-plus in further subsidies to keep Davis-Besse and at least one 50-year-old coal burner on the public dole, there may be no hope for an already hollowed-out economy. Coal is clearly in decline here, and fracked gas has a laundry list of problems, from questionable long-term supply to its contributions to ecological disaster.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/john_kasichs_anti-green_legacy_could_propel_him_to_the_white_house_20150615

Another reason to hope Kasich fails.

Reply to this discussion