Huge power cut hits eastern America
A power cut struck New York and other cities in the north-eastern United States and Canada tonight.
In New York, areas affected stretched from Manhattan to Long Island and to the north. The buildings affected include the United Nations and New York Stock Exchange, along with Kennedy and La Guardia airports.
A New York emergency management official says he has “no idea how extensive it is”.
Other cities in the dark include Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo. And power was cut in parts of Canada, including Toronto and throughout Ontario.
“We have no idea how extensive it is,” said an official with the Office for Emergency Management in New York City.
In New York, the blackout affected subways, lifts and airports.
Thousands of people streamed out into the streets of lower Manhattan in 90F (32C) heat.
In Toronto, Ontario, too, workers left their offices after the blackout hit shortly after 4pm EDT (10 pm Irish time).
Traffic lights were out throughout central Cleveland, creating havoc at the beginning of the rush hour.
Every prison in New York state reported a loss of power and had switched to backup generators, said James Flateau, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.
mfl 4 US Blackout
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there was no evidence of terrorism as a cause. ``Probably a natural occurrence which disrupted the power system up there,'' he said, referring to a power grid based in the Niagara Falls area.
The FBI was checking the extraordinary blackouts but had no immediate information about the cause, said spokesman Bill Carter in Washington.
There also were widespread blackouts in Ottawa, the Canadian capital.
There were reports of power cuts in northern New Jersey and in several Vermont towns. In Connecticut, Metro-North Railroad service was knocked out. Lights flickered at state government buildings in Hartford.
In Albany, New York, several people were trapped in lifts in Empire State Plaza, but most had been freed by 5pm (10pm BST). People in New York City queued 10 deep or more at pay phones, with mobile phone service disrupted in some areas.
Mike Saltzman, a spokesman for New York Power Authority, in White Plains, New York, said its two largest hydroelectric plants, including Niagara Falls and St Lawrence-FDR, were operating. He said he did not know about 18 other smaller plants.
The cuts rivalled those in the West on August 11, 1996, when heat, sagging power lines and unusually high demand for electricity caused a blackout that affected four million customers in nine states, one of the most severe power failures in US history.
A blackout in New York City in 1977 left some nine million people without electricity for up to 25 hours.
“There is no evidence of any terrorism at this point,” said Michael Sheehan, deputy commissioner for terrorism of New York City’s Police Department. “We’ve talked to Washington and there are rumours, but none of them pans out.”
Top New York police officers gathered at the department’s operations centre where the focus was on the ramifications of the blackout rather than its cause.
“We’re more concerned about getting the traffic lights running and making sure the city is OK than what caused it,” a police spokesman said.
