Black Out, 20 Years Ago Today

[unassuming]

Where were you when the black out occurred?

I had just gotten home from work around 4pm and turned on my TV and all of a sudden the power went out. Power came back on at around 8pm. For some it was days.

911 happened just 2 years prior and for all we knew, blackout could have been an Al Quaida attack.

Imagine the blackout happening today, with just about everyone relying on social media.

 

[JackBurton]

I remember packing up cause I was going camping. The lights went out just as I was packing the car.
I left and spent a long weekend near Long Point, on Lake Erie and they were on a completely different electrical grid. Never even noticed or heard there was a power outage until I got back to Toronto.

Ps: it was a great camping trip. I always forget how charming the Lake Erie area is in the summer.

 

[seanzo]

Don't normally post but my perspective on this event was rather unique in that I had no clue it had actually happened until over a week later.

I was an Ontario Ranger in Algonquin Park that summer and was on a 5 day excursion into the bush to clear portages when it occurred. Normally we went into North Bay on the weekends but that week we decided to stay in camp, I spent it fishing for Brook Trout on the Amble Du Fond.

It wasn't until the next week when we went into North Bay that I had my first clue something was wrong as there were way more Army trucks broken down on the shoulder of the highway heading out of North Bay than we had previously seen all summer.

It was by pure chance I found out about the blackout when we got to town, I was having a random chat with the guy who was working at a used record store I bought some CDs at when I had mentioned the Army trucks coming out of town. He gave me a sideways look and told me all about the blackout, were it not for that I probably wouldn't have known for months

 

[jalimon]

I remember exactly where I was when Quebec had the huge freezing rain or when 9/11 happened. But can't recall much about the blackout. Was it only in Ontario?

 

[Darts]

Mom was in the hospital. Thank goodness they have/had auxiliary power.

The Quebec ice storm: The problem are the extremely long power lines from James Bay.

 

[K Douglas]

I remember it vividly. Had to walk from mid town to Yonge/Dundas to hitch a ride back to the west end. Took a few pit stops along the way to down a pint. It was warm that day.
I was one of the last homes in the city to get power back (3 days). I ended up staying with my parents who got power back the next morning. Driving there was fun though no operating traffic lights.

 

[shack]

I remember exactly where I was when Quebec had the huge freezing rain or when 9/11 happened. But can't recall much about the blackout. Was it only in Ontario?

It was a huge area including the U.S. eastern seaboard, IICR.

 

[shack]

I remember it vividly. Had to walk from mid town to Yonge/Dundas to hitch a ride back to the west end. Took a few pit stops along the way to down a pint. It was warm that day.
I was one of the last homes in the city to get power back (3 days). I ended up staying with my parents who got power back the next morning. Driving there was fun though no operating traffic lights.

I was seeing an SP/SB at the time who I was very hot for. We had a date, which no way I was going to miss. I lived uptown and she was downtown. I drove down and as you said, there were no traffic lights. The round trip took forever. The house was hot since there was no AC so we spent a lot of time on my back deck.

 

[black booty lover]

So I was totally hung over and just happened to be starting my vacation that week. Wasn't going anywhere, just took the week off but Iived super close to where I work. So anyway, I slept in and wake up to no power. I call my roommate on his cell and I'm like "hey, we got no fucking power. I'm going to bar if you want to join me after work". His response "try like half of North America doesn't have any power"...lol. I almost went into shock and couldn't believe it. I walked towards my work and my boss plus the reginal manager are their and wave me over. I had to help do a bunch of shit cause they were in a bind, and I didn't power back until like end of the second day so my vacation got screwed...lol.

 

[onomatopoeia]

Where were you when the black out occurred?

I had just gotten home from work around 4pm and turned on my TV and all of a sudden the power went out. Power came back on at around 8pm. For some it was days.

911 happened just 2 years prior and for all we knew, blackout could have been an Al Quaida attack.

Imagine the blackout happening today, with just about everyone relying on social media.

I'm not sure if this is still true, but in 2015, all social media sites would be unavailable if a computer's internal clock was advanced. It might have applied to phones, as well.

This happened to me accidentally when I was looking at future calendar dates when my antivirus updated, and the internal clock was advanced without my confirming the change.

Food for thought for a hacker...what would all those young people glued to their cell phones do, if they actually had to speak to other people?

 

[rhuarc29]

I was on the open water and didn't realize anything was amiss until I got back to shore a few hours later and saw huge line-ups at the gas stations. Went home, grilled some steaks for family, and stayed out all night having a bonfire. If I recall correctly, power came on midday the next day.

 

[Darts]

If I remember correctly, the landline phones were still working.

 

[tml]

I was at work and we all gathered to decide how we were getting home. Those of us who drove to work gave rides to those who took public transit.

 

[tkodude]

I recall that it was a hot day and along with mad traffic, one of my radiator fans was blown and the engine kept overheating so I had to stop few times to let it cool off a bit. Took me 2+ hrs to get home from work (usually a 20 min drive).

That night we emptied out the freezer and cooked as much food as we could on a BBQ with a side burner.

Got the power back 3 or so days later. I don't remember anyone panicking, but an unequivocal level of uncertainty and confusion was definitely there.

 

[tml]

I don't remember anyone panicking, but an unequivocal level of uncertainty and confusion was definitely there.

No looting either from what I remember.

 

[tkodude]

No looting either from what I remember.

I believe there were some isolated cases. Nothing major though. Few of the neighborhood apartment buildings got hit (mainly for car stereos).

 

[glamphotographer]

That evening we emptied the freezer and had a BBQ.

 

[FUCKMEISTER]

I went to buy a generator for my mothers freezer.

Our local Honda ( Hully Gully) dealer up' d the price by 50% from that mornings price check.

 

[jeff2]

Walked from Adelaide and York until I got a taxi at Roncesvalles.

 

[canada-man]