OT: The Great Northeast Blackout 15 years ago this month

Submitted by MichiganFan1984 on

15 years ago next Tuesday there was a massive power outage here in Michigan and much of the NE and parts of the Midwest U.S. I lived in Toledo, OH at the time and I remember everyone panicking because they thought it was a terrorist attack (not really crazy because 9/11 was still very recent). There was no way to really find out what was going on for at least a couple hours, as far as I remember. What do you remember about that day? How bad would a power outage hurt us in 2018? 

Blue_In_Texas

August 7th, 2018 at 12:15 PM ^

I remember this well. Those couple days were awful. No running water was rough. It was a bitch not to have AC either. 

 

Not to sound alarmist, but our power grids are extremely susceptible to attack. If a foreign adversary wanted to attack us, this would be a prime move to make. A power outage like that would be miserable. Especially in the summertime/in a hot part of the country. 

ramenboy

August 7th, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^

A couple years ago some hackers from Iran had demonstrated the ability to hack into the computer controlling a small dam holding back a brook in Westchester, NY.  Speculation was that it was just a test or dry run for something bigger.

Mr. Owl

August 7th, 2018 at 1:41 PM ^

I have a friend who is in computer security (whatever the technical term for it is.)  He is actually moving to Central America partially due to what he feels is a ticking time bomb of an unsecured infrastructure.  What he says has been saving us is there is more money in extorting Walmart by threatening to change all their prices on a Saturday afternoon than there is in opening dams & flooding towns.

Trebor

August 7th, 2018 at 1:58 PM ^

The power grid is extremely flimsy, but it's also something that's kind of difficult to make extremely secure. I work in the commercial nuclear power business, and I've talked to folks that maintain electrical grids; the only suggestion for some enhanced security of the grid itself is to turn back time and run the wires underground. But it's too late for that in cities (where you'd have to spend a fortune to dig up sidewalks/streets) and can't be used in locations with active fault lines. And it still doesn't solve the possibility of someone hacking into a control system and flipping breakers remotely where possible.

Speaking from experience only with nuclear facilities, but plant control systems are intentionally not hooked up to the network so that it is impossible to remotely force the plant into a dangerous configuration. I have no idea if other plants (hydro, gas, wind, etc.) have the same type of air-gapped system or not.

BlueWon

August 7th, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^

The "grid" is definitely connected. I used to consult for one of the big utilities in the Great Lakes region and all of their substations' SCADA networks are connected back to corporate via wireless modems on one one of the big carriers. 

 

LSAClassOf2000

August 7th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^

At least around the Great Lakes, plants, the transmission infrastructure and regional utilities that maintain the subtransmission and distribution systems are definitely connected in various ways, but there is quite a bit of system protection built at each step. On the day of the blackout, once FirstEnergy lost its fifth interconnection near Canton, I believe the voltage sag in northern Ohio basically created a situation where the system tried to compensate by essentially sucking the life out of SE Michigan - more than 2 GW worth, I believe. At that point, plants from Port Huron to Cleveland basically found themselves with no demand and shut down automatically. The surge that went eastward actually caused plants in the NYC area to cut out because of overload conditions.

Trebor

August 7th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^

I was really confused as to what you meant by things being connected, and whoops, I realized I had originally replied to the wrong post. I meant to reply to ramenboy's post about hacking into a dam, and was referring to how, at least in nuclear plants, you can't actually hack in and change the plant configuration.

Anyway, yes, it was a cascading failure due to the grid being connected everywhere and the systems that are supposed to alert operators of cascading failures didn't react appropriately due to some buggy software. Too much demand and not enough supply will cause basically all power generators to fail into a safe mode to protect against mechanical failure.

StephenRKass

August 7th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^

I occasionally think about how susceptible we are to the loss of the power grid. I happen to own a simple cottage about 20 minutes or so west of my home, near the Fox River. As simple as that cottage is, it would be a better place to be if the grid failed. There is access to water (apart from the grid,) and access to a toilet (apart from the grid.) It is quite comfortable except in the worst heat (lots of windows and screens and cross breeze.) Were I to add a wood stove, I could manage there year round. It was a summer community that would escape the heat of Chicago summers almost a hundred years ago. When I lived in Florida, I remember some old houses that predated AC everywhere with breezeways and plenty of live oaks, which were quite comfortable. In fact, we bought an overbuilt house from the 50's and had a dozen huge live oaks on the property. With the shade, that house was comfortable more than half the year without AC cranking. And in Ann Arbor, I lived with a professor and his wife in an old two story farm house heated with a wood stove. I think I split about 2 cords of wood one year. But with an old ice house, a creek, a hen house, a cellar, and a garden, that place was close to being impervious to a power grid shut down. I understand and appreciate "progress." Like everyone else, I love my smart phone and my HD TV and laptop and my hybrid car and my Nikon digital camera. But I am at least a bit apprehensive that I don't understand nor can I fix any of these items if they break, along with virtually all my appliances. I have always gravitated to being able to function in a pinch without utilities. EDIT: I don't know how to add paragraph breaks with mgoblog 3.0. Smh.

Berger04

August 7th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^

Just as long as it doesn't happen on football Saturdays!!! I remember that day I was 27 then.  Wasn't it like three days??...My line of thinking and reasoning  would be much different now. I too at that time was quick to judge and blamed it on terrorism. I'm much more rational now. 

mGrowOld

August 7th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^

Boy does that bring back memories.  My company at the time was headquartered in Twinsburg, Ohio and we ran an outbound call center with about 100 employees.  The dividing line between the haves and have nots (power wise) for the eastern seaboard ran about 1/2 mile from our office with us being on the "good" side of the line.  Needless to say if power had been out for us it would've been catestrophic for our new business.

So after the whole thing was over my partners and I decided to invest in a very expensive generator so we could ensure power during any outage and keep the business running.  As God is my witness not 2 days after we went live with the generator (much testing went on) we got hit with a very heavy thunderstorm and suddenly there was a very loud BANG and the place went dark and the power went off.   

My partner walked slowly into my office and said "you're not going to believe this but the lighting strike just hit the generator and it looks like it's fried."  $50,000 down the toilet and no power.

mGrowOld

August 7th, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^

17 year old Zolton Mesko and I both worked out at the Twinsburg Rec center at the time.   I met him shortly before he left for AA because I was wearing my Michigan gear and he started singing the Victors next to me.  He told me he was considering heading up to Michigan as a punter and we talked about living in Ann Arbor, dorm life and college in general.

I met his head coach and later that month the three of us had lunch and we talked a lot more about Michigan the school and the football program.  I like to think I had a little bit to do with swaying him in the direction of Michigan or at least I hope I did.

ramenboy

August 7th, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^

I was at a track day at Pocono Raceway in PA on my motorcycle on that day.  I wiped out and wound up in the hospital in Scranton with a minor concussion but was released same day.  After my my track buddies picked me up we went to a McDonalds for food and were wondering why nobody could get a dial tone on their cellphones.  Guess Pocono and Scranton were on a different power grid?

lilpenny1316

August 7th, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^

I was living in DC, which was spared, but spent a lot of time on the phone that first day with my dad.  After living through 9/11 in DC, and watching the plane that hit the Pentagon moments before impact, I was relieved to hear it was a power grid issue.

 

Onas

August 7th, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^

My wife was in Gross Lab year one of Med School. The power went out as she was elbow-deep in a cadaver in a windowless basement morgue. There was some emergency lighting down the hall but they had covered the door windows to prevent peekers. It was pitch-black. Also, everyone had to leave their phones and electronics in their lockers before class so no one had a flashlight in their pocket. 

Greg McMurtry

August 7th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^

Played frisbee golf, cards and got drunk. Cellphones were down, so couldn’t call anyone. My buddy tried to turn the tv on at least 3 separate times due to habit and was like “what the hell?” He received a ton of shit each time. Sleeping sucked as it was hot as hell.

Harbaugh's Lef…

August 7th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^

Wow, does this bring back memories.

I just moved to NYC about a year earlier... I had a friend in town who I was with at a Barnes and Noble as the lights went out. Just thinking it was the building that lost power, we made our way outside to see traffic lights out, other businesses lights out... everything out. Of course, thinking of the worst, panic set in until word spread that it was a blackout. With cell service being horrible, it took a while but I got in touch with my Dad who lived outside of the blackout area and he gave me the best advice I perhaps had ever gotten. When I asked him what I should do, his answer "go to a bar and enjoy the night" and thats just what I did.

Went to a buddies bar where everyone was in a great, jovial mood. Ended up drinking for free, by candle light, until about 3 or 4 the next morning... honestly, one of the most fun nights of my life.

softshoes

August 7th, 2018 at 12:44 PM ^

The thing I remember most was having less than a quarter tank of gas when it happened. I couldn't go far enough to get gas to get out of dodge. After the first day I emptied out much of my freezer and had a big bbq.  Lesson learned? I don't let my gas tank go that low anymore. 

jakerblue

August 7th, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^

I got to go to a make up Aerosmith concert at Ford Field later on that was canceled because of the black out.

Aerosmith pretty much phoned it in since it was a make-up. But KISS opened for them and that was one of the best performances I've ever seen.

L'Carpetron Do…

August 7th, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^

My brother was flying back from studying abroad in Germany that evening and our town was the only area that even had spotty coverage. Me and my dad went to pick him up at JFK and we had no idea if he would be there or not or what the hell was going on.  We got there and it was like borderline pandemonium - half the place was in darkness, departure/arrival screens were out, people everywhere, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. There seemed to be no cops anywhere which was also weird and scary. We couldn't find him so we just got out of there. 

As we were leaving, my buddies who were in Ann Arbor at the time called and told me I was missing a truly special day in history. Blue Front and a few other beer stores in the neighborhood were just giving stuff away because their freezers/fridges were down. They were on the front lawn of our party house drinking free beer and eating free ice cream.

My brother walked through the door at 5 AM. They initially had to make an emergency landing in Boston, but then they were sent to Providence instead. He got on a bus from Providence to NYC and took the train out to LI in the middle of the night. He walked home from the station with all his stuff. Don't know if anyone in my family has a wilder travel story than that. 

Larry Appleton

August 7th, 2018 at 12:51 PM ^

How can I forget?  I was drunk and at my girlfriend's apartment and we got into a huge argument.  I would have left, but I couldn't drive, and all of a sudden there was no AC in sweltering August heat.  

Looking back now, I should have walked the 5 miles to my apartment.

Malum In Se

August 7th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^

I was working in downtown Detroit when the power went out.  I had to walk down 40 flights of stairs in a suit.  The drive home took 3 hours instead of the usually 20 minutes as traffic in the city was utterly gridlocked at first.

When it first happened the office phones still worked, I knew my Dad listened to WJR all day, so I called him.  When he told it the blackout affected portions of Canada, I was relieved.  No one hates Canada, so I reasoned it had to be a accident or technical failure.  

I forget how many days I was without power, but I spent a lot of time my basement to stay cool and utterly bored out of my mind.  

ijohnb

August 7th, 2018 at 1:05 PM ^

It was anywhere from a day to 4 or 5 days in some areas.  It was a difficult few days, but the 2017 Midwest windstorm/outage was worse, IMO.  Some people (including myself) had no power for 7-10 days in unseasonably frigid temperatures.  Being hot is one thing, buy you know eventually it is going to cool off at night and you will get some relief.  Not so in winter, night is even worse.  My house was seriously frozen to the core. It got to the point where I honestly didn't even know if my power was going to come back on, ever.  I really appreciate Michigan basketball for winning the BIG tournament during that time or I would have lost my shit completely.

Malum In Se

August 7th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^

I live just off Clearwater Beach, FL now.  I got lucky.  Irma only left me without power a day or so.  I knew people who were without power for weeks.

I will happily concede that going a week or two without power in the dead of Michigan winter is worse than down here in the summer.  Then again, when it is under 70, I need a jacket now.

sum1valiant

August 7th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^

Yeah, I dont know, this is a tough one. I was without power for just over eight days after Irma (slightly northwest or Orlando), and I can confidently say that it was the most miserable week of my life. Temps were in the mid 90s every day and didnt drop below 80 at night. I slept maybe an average of 1-2 hours per night, and the kids were roughly the same. The generator was installed last week, we wont be going through that again. 

Primo

August 7th, 2018 at 1:01 PM ^

Lived on McKinley after finishing my senior year. We had a keg within 30 minutes and lived by campfire for a few days. Wasn’t a bad way to finish out that lease. 

NittanyFan

August 7th, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^

I guess I watch too many apocalypse type movies.  But my first thought was that it was an EMP bomb.

Once that (thank God) was ruled out - it was home to drink beer and grill meat.  

The next day was definitely boring.  Just read a book while listening to my old walkman radio, listening to updates.  It was uncomfortable.  It wasn't overly hot (the high at DTW the next day was "only" 82, which isn't atypical for mid-August in Michigan) as much as it was overly humid (dew points never below 70).  

 

darkstar

August 7th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^

Living in Grand Rapids I recall that it hit the east side of MI so we ended up fine and went about our merry business. Sorry to those it affected while I was blissfully ignorant and/or drunk.

Speaking of EMPs: Now having just recently read One Second After by William Forstchen I would be scared shitless.  That is one completely plausible and disturbing book but I would still recommend it.

stephenrjking

August 7th, 2018 at 4:20 PM ^

Speaking of scary: I was watching a lecture whose starting premise was the effect of the Yom Kippur war on US Military Doctrine. He was describing the development of US land war doctrine in the 70s and how the doctrine they had at the time (in short, basically preparing for an invasion of West Germany that would allow the Warsaw Pact forces to capture the Ruhr area and achieve industrial near-equality) when war-gamed out by the US always resulted in military setbacks so severe that NATO would be forced to resort to the use of tactical nukes.

Scary the situation was that bad.

Scarier still: The lecturer later, almost casually, mentioned that after the end of the cold war he was talking to a guy who had been involved in Soviet military planning. And the guy had described that, among many other things, there was no real hierarchy decision to use nukes. Each different military objective was attached to nukes and they were going to be used right away, to the point where Denmark, a minor military objective to which Warsaw Pact forces were to send a small force that they believed had a low probability of success, would be the subject of immediate nuclear assault.

From 300 warheads. 

I'm quite thankful that things never got that far. 

Alton

August 7th, 2018 at 2:38 PM ^

My first thought, too.

I was at work in Dexter, MI, and I happened to be on the phone with a colleague from Princeton, NJ, when the lights went off. When we realized that we had both lost power at the same instant, there was an immediate "oh, crap" from both of us.  

Maybe I'm paranoid, but it was hard not to think something very very bad happened...or was about to happen.

 

MichiganTeacher

August 7th, 2018 at 3:13 PM ^

I was in NYC and a newlywed. So, yeah... no kids from that day and a half for us, though.

Part of it was that it was hot as hell on carbon even just on the 3rd floor where we were. It was more than a bit of a struggle tbh. Memorable.

Cruzcontrol75

August 7th, 2018 at 2:26 PM ^

I was working at Beaumont that day and just had brought a patient up to the 8th floor.  Luckily we had gotten off the elevator.  I walked to echo where someone had a radio on and we found out it was a large scale multi-state outage.  Emergency power went to the ER, OR, Cath lab and a few elevators that weekend.  Toilets were flushed with buckets of water and electric fans were brought into the main hallways.  Needless to say it was getting very ripe in there as there are no windows which open.   

As I recall there were 10,000s in town for the dream cruise.  Chicken Shack wisely had a generator keeping them open as one of the few restaurants along Woodward still functioning.   People started getting a little stir crazy after a couple days.  When we heard of power being restored on the east side we drove along M59 to get gas and stopped at Red Robin.   A few more days and I could foresee some real problems.  

An EMP pulse would be devastating to the electrical infrastructure and the vast majority could not survive on the meager supplies which would quickly run out if there was an outage of more than 2 or 3 weeks.   

garde

August 7th, 2018 at 1:28 PM ^

I was in NYC and the lights went out in the office. Within minutes we were all being evacuated. Total chaos out on Broadway in Midtown...no traffic lights, cars driving everywhere, and people flooded the streets. Obviously, a lot of us thought this was another 9/11. I was a few weeks away from moving to Europe and had already given up my apartment, so I needed to get back to NJ where I was crashing at my folk's place (office told us all to go home). Since I had no cash on me, a colleague lent me $20 and I started to walk over to the ferries to get across the river. After seeing the MOB of people, I headed over to the West Side Highway, stuck out my thumb, and hitched a ride. I was lucky because I was still able to go away on a planned weekend trip the next day, although all my friends who stayed in the city drank to the very early morning hours in candlelit bars.

(That day was nothing like 9/11 for obvious reasons....but being trapped on a packed subway one stop from Wall Street for a few hours was crazy. When the first tower fell, it knocked out all the power downtown and in the subways. We eventually had to walk out.)

I should add weeks later when I finally moved to Europe, the first night in my apartment, they had their blackout.