The Big Blackout of 2003

Amalie Rothschild

Amalie Rothschild:
    Next, here's my blackout story. Please edit to suit.
    I was on my way returning to Italy from a 20 day visit to the US to  handle various business and personal matters in Baltimore and New  York. I was already at JFK airport relaxing in the Air France  business lounge (I was traveling on a frequent flyer business ticket) making last minute phone calls, talking to my close long-time friend Julie Sloane (we made my last two films together- she's an ace editor and writer) who also happens to be my Real Estate agent when she said something funny was happening with the power in her office, and then the phone went dead and I noticed the TV in the lounge had gone black, and so on.
    It was 4:12 PM and our flight was due to be called for boarding at 4:35 PM. To make this brief, it took awhile to even realize that the power was down all over since there's emergency back up at the airport. They boarded us at the normal time and then we sat in the plane for over two hours before taking off at 7:15 PM instead of 5:10. 
    It was on the plane that we learned of the extent of the power outage. Then we landed in Boston where they refueled for the transatlantic crossing since they weren't able to do so in NYC because of the blackout. For unknown reasons they had power in Boston.
    So in the end we made it to Paris arriving only 4 hours late at 10 AM Friday morning instead of 6 AM. This meant I got more good sleep in on the flight over. However, it also meant I had missed two connecting flights to Florence. But they put me on one at noon and I arrived at the Florence airport at 2 PM instead of 9 AM.
    All things being as they were, I was pretty lucky that I wasn't delayed 3 days.

Reflections on the Blackout of 2003
                  By Townsend Davis

  I first sensed something was wrong while standing on a steamy subway platform at Lincoln Center.  The lights went out and a fire alarm sounded, but there was still enough natural light from the stairs and grates to get out, which I did pronto.    I still thought the problem was local until I arrived at the ABC studios at Times Square, where I was scheduled to attend a taping of a news show. The studios were powered by backup generators, so we were able to watch the initial reports of power outages in the entire Northeast. We debated whether it was an orchestrated attack, and those correspondents who had shown up for the taping were soon wading into the crowds gathering in Times Square to get reaction, cameras in tow.  Bridget, who had walked from her midtown office to the ABC studios in an effort to find me, saw cameramen in the hallways calling: "It's chaos out there, get me a correspondent!" The ice cream trucks and hot dog stands were doing a booming business.    It was clear we would need to walk all the way home to Brooklyn. For those of you unfamiliar with New York, Park Slope, where we live, is on a hill, several miles from the nearest bridges connecting to Manhattan.
  We joined the throngs in the streets walking downtown to lower Manhattan in the heat, stopping to get water or use candle-lit bathrooms provided by charitable restaurant owners.  We tried to jettison non-essential elements from the bags we had each brought to work, but Bridget insisted on keeping a bulky financial document she was editing, and I decided to keep a copy of the New Yorker (we had just renewed our subscription).
  Some women in high heels were walking barefoot, and others were sitting on the sidelines, pouring bottled water over their sore toes.
  Thankfully, Bridget was wearing flats that day. Some people were voluntarily directing traffic, but most cars were at a standstill.  Once on Canal Street we began walking across the Manhattan Bridge, which is not usually open to pedestrians, but had been cleared on one side for walkers. The mood was calm, even a little festive, like an outdoor concert, but night was approaching fast, and without any noticeable police presence it wasn't clear how long that would last. Our greatest worry was our son William. We already were hours late, and we hadn't been able to reach our babysitter by phone.
  Looking back at Manhattan, the skyline was quiet and dark, with certain buildings and docks (and the Verizon building) still lit with backup power, dotting the dark silhouette.  As we walked up Flatbush Avenue, we saw discouraged commuters at the Long Island Railroad station sitting stranded on the sidewalk pondering their fate.  By the time we got to our tree-lined block, we had only the light of oncoming cars to guide us through the famously cobbled streets.
  When we walked up the stairs to our 4th floor apartment, we were relieved to find our babysitter with other members of her family camped out in the living room with candles, and our son asleep in his crib.   They went home, carrying the only flashlight we had in the house, and we took cold baths and soothed our sore feet, while listening with William to reports on a small battery powered radio.  At about 4 am, the power came back on in the building with a thud, although we had disconnected all the appliances.  That day there was no way for either of us to get to work, so we took William for a stroll, went to a restaurant and even had some furniture delivered.  In the end, we had it pretty easy compared to some, but the urban paralysis and uncertainty couldn't help but bring back memories of September 11.  Fortunately, this was nothing catastrophic.
  Lesson learned: buy one of those el cheapo non-electric phones for your home so that you can communicate even if the power goes out.  It certainly brought home to us just how dependent on power we all are.

Shirley Lastar Finn Podolsky

  It has been an interesting few days, something that doesn't happen too often in our neck of the woods. Other people get hurricanes, tornado's, mud slides, forest fires etc. but it's usually pretty quiet around here. Thursday afternoon on my way home from the beauty parlor I wondered why none of the street lights worked. It was pretty interesting driving . People were polite and the four way stop and go system was used. Occasionally there was an idiot who plowed through the intersections causing near accidents, but for the most part the stop and go system worked beautifully.
  As usual on Thursdays I stopped at the market to pick up some food for dinner only to find the place in complete darkness. Workers were holding the doors partially open so customers could squeeze out of the building. Naturally I couldn't get in. Without electricity nothing worked, automatic doors wouldn't open and close, cash registers wouldn't ring, credit card machines didn't work, and you couldn't see. From the market to our condo it generally takes about 10 minutes by car. Thursday it took me 45 minutes. I was going to stop and get gas but the pumps weren't working. Anyway I finally made it home only to find out we were in a blackout. Usually I have the car radio on but that didn't work either. At that point we didn't know how long the blackout would be in affect so we didn't want to open the refrigerator or freezer.
  I didn't have much food in the cabinets, well I did have staples, but without water I couldn't cook anything, and without electricity the range and oven's didn't work. I did have some canned foods, like salt free peas and salt free soups, and salt free corn and salt free stewed tomatoes. Harold could eat because he likes anything that is fat and salt free. At that point I was wishing for a more interesting variety of canned foods. I did have a lot of batteries fortunately because we needed them for flashlights and radios. You have no idea how boring it is when there are no lights, no television, and when darkness comes, you can't read. The radio was a god- send. It was the only way we had of finding out the news. Harold and I had good conversations with each other but it seemed the best thing to do was go to bed. You don't realize how dark it is until there is absolutely no light. You also can't wash and brushing your teeth takes ingenuity . Since the blackout occurred with out warning we had no way to save water, and I only had a half gallon of distilled water that I used for watering my bamboo plants. I used it but Harold is fussy and he wouldn't use it so I'm not sure what he did. I think he used Snapple. I did have lots of diet Snapple and Coke in the house so we had something to drink. We still hadn't opened the refrigerator. Without water the toilets wouldn't flush. And the weather was hot and muggy and we had no air conditioning.
  Day two came. We were told to stay indoors and off the streets, which we had to do anyway because neither Harold or I had gas in our cars. Our toilets were getting full and we had no water to flush. That was the worse thing. It was still hot and muggy but the house was pleasant. In the afternoon we had a rain storm with a real downpour and I ran and got a pail and some pots and put them under the down spouts to catch water. I looked like a drowned rat hauling water in for the tanks of the toilets. Did you know it takes 3 or 4 large pails of water to flush one toilet. It was just too difficult for me to lift those pails and I was spilling water all over the place. I gave up. I did a lot of reading that day and ate lots of crackers. We opened the refrigerator and freezer and found everything had melted in the freezer so we dumped it all. I found some bread and ham and took a chance and made ham sandwiches. There was also some fat free cheese so I had that with the crackers. We threw milk, orange juice, and everything else away. We listened to the radio and again went to bed early hoping that during the night everything would go back on. Sometime during the early morning of the third day the lights went on but we still had no water and the toilets were full, all three of them, and it was beginning to smell raunchy. I ran out to buy water. I went to four stores collecting water, the shelves in some were empty. Can you believe I poured about $20.00 worth of water in the toilet and that barely flushed it. About two o'clock the water started dribbling in and once again I was collecting it to put in the toilets. After two hours I finally had the three toilets flushed and clean. And right after that the pressure was good enough and the toilets could flush on their own. It sounds like I had a fixation on toilets and I did....that was the worse thing about this whole blackout.
  We were supposed to go out to dinner with friends Saturday evening but we canceled because we weren't sure whether the food was fresh or if they used boiled water. Many restaurants were not allowed to open until they were inspected to make sure the water wasn't contaminated. We still had nothing to eat at home and Harold went out to get sandwiches for dinner. I was finally able to take a shower and that felt wonderful. We spent the evening watching the boob tube and reading. I didn't want to grocery shop because the stores had to also dump everything that was perishable. Sunday morning I went grocery shopping to a market that had a generator so that nothing got spoiled and I was once again in business along with hundreds of other shoppers out doing the same thing. By two o'clock I could once again relax, my cupboard, refrigerator and freezer were full and I had a good dinner ready. We still had to boil water and wash everything in the boiled water. That would last until Wednesday or Thursday. Harold filled our cars with gas so we ready to roll.
  Here it is Monday and I can now write about our experience instead of living it. One never knows what is around the corner so you have to be prepared for any eventuality. We are so lucky to be living in this country where we do have things like electricity, air conditioning, gas, and food. And where if there are catastrophes, they are quickly remedied. It's a miracle that everything was up and running again within three days.