Where were you during the blackout of 2003?

**Gannon** · August-12-10, 10:39 AM

Here it is...

**jackie5275** · August-12-10, 10:39 AM

I had gotten off work & headed to the credit union for some extra cash to last me until payday. I had just left the credit union and was driving to pick up my infant son from day care. I noticed that all the traffic lights were out. I was in the Allen Park area. I thought there was some problem with the traffic lights on that road. Then I heard on WWJ that there was a blackout in the Detroit area, but they didn't know the reason. I was taking Outer Dr to my day care provider. It took me about three times as long of a trip to get there. My day care provider thought it was a terrorist attack. At the time, I couldn't rule it out.
My husband worked in Southfield in the Tel-12 area. He took the Telegraph bus home and got off at Mich Ave & Outer Dr. usually around 5:30 pm. I normally picked him up there. Not knowing when the bus would show up, I sat there until around 7:45pm when it did. The whole time I sat there, emergency sirens & messages were going off in Dearborn.
We slept in the basement that night. The next day, we found out there was power in Lansing & went to stay that night at a hotel, spending the cash I got at the credit union because they couldn't get credit cards approved because their bank's computer was down. I will never forget it being so hot & my son sitting in his high chair crying because he was so uncomfortable.

**jackie5275** · August-12-10, 10:48 AM

It 's good to read all the stories of folks being able to buddy up with neighbors for help, food, partying, etc. I wish I could have had the same experience. I've got real %$&^**% neighbors who have a whole house generator & was using it during the blackout. For them, it was as if nothing happened. I asked if I could run an extension cord to their house for my fridge. They said no because then they'd have to give up their television.
I also remember going back to work on Monday & getting chewed out for not calling in for that Friday. I was also told that 2 or 3 people, out of about 100, did show up. Of course there was nothing to do but sit around, but I was told if they could come in, I could've too. Yeah right.

Ravine · August-12-10, 10:50 AM

USPS, huh?

**Mikeg** · August-12-10, 11:22 AM

Gannon, the complete lack of clouds [[not to mention the fact that at 23:15 EST on Aug 14, Anchorage, AK would still be 2 hours away from sunset) suggested to me that your image has been photoshopped. I checked Snopes.com and they state it is a composite image that has been inaccurately manipulated. Click this link to read their analysis and view some real satellite images of the blackout.

**Gannon** · August-12-10, 11:32 AM

Thanks MikeG!

Like I said, it looked like someone put up their hand and made a shadow-alligator over the projection [[the ONLY shadow-animal-shape I can ever conjure up, don't know why I have so much trouble with the bunny!).

Cheers

**jcole** · August-12-10, 11:46 AM

Sitting in my living room in Almont; power went out for about 45 minutes and then came back on for the duration. The gas stations in town were drained of every drop by Friday morning as well as every store being out of ice, beer, water and cigarettes once the towns to the south and east found out that we had power and gas.
Watching the newscasts on 2, 4, and 7 and laughing when they told people with no power to call in with their blackout stories.

**Detroitnerd** · August-12-10, 12:11 PM

I was deep in the bowels of the Main Branch of the Detroit Public Library, sitting and reading a newspaper in the center of the old Cass Gilbert Sr. building, surrounded by all that stone. When the lights went out, all of a sudden it was very dark, as it's virtually windowless. All I could hear was the library security chatter over walkie-talkies echoing off the walls. I walked out while they were closing the library and strolled up to the 1890. They were closing down and that made me sad, then thirsty, then sort of angry. So I finished up by walking up to Fourth Street, where, of course, everybody was out on their candle-filled porches playing guitar and singing. It was quite wonderful, actually.

Since I was on the same grid as the old precinct house at Woodward and Hancock, the power came on the next evening, if I remember correctly.

**jackie5275** · August-12-10, 12:32 PM

Kind of interesting to note how many posts mention having or getting ice & beer.

**Claude G.** · August-12-10, 12:43 PM

I was actually in my shop doing some electrical work and changing out an 8 foot light fixture when it happened.

I was too laze to go and shut off the power, so I opened the fixture and very carefully was in the middle of disconnecting the fixture while it was still powered up.

As soon as I disconnected the first wire, all the power went out, and remember my father looked at me and said "What the fuck did you just do"

It took about 5 minutes for us to realize all the power was out. Got a little worried when we noticed that we had started to loose water pressure, which ment that the pumps at the water department had lost power also.

**Gannon** · August-12-10, 02:55 PM

ClaudeG,

That is too funny.

So it was YOUR fault...heh.

Cheers

**R8RBOB** · August-12-10, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by Mikeg

Gannon, the complete lack of clouds [[not to mention the fact that at 23:15 EST on Aug 14, Anchorage, AK would still be 2 hours away from sunset) suggested to me that your image has been photoshopped. I checked Snopes.com and they state it is a composite image that has been inaccurately manipulated. Click this link to read their analysis and view some real satellite images of the blackout.

Good eye. I was living in California during that time and on August 14th at 8:15 PDT according to the map, the western part of Cali is lit like a Christmas tree. No way that's possible.

**Detroitej72** · August-12-10, 03:21 PM

I was working at my buddy's pizza store at 6 Mile and Southfield at the time. I had just walked into the store after, ironically, filling up my gas tank. We had a couple costumers in the lobby and pizzas were in the middle of the oven, still sizzling away. We shut down the store and I had to follow my friend home because he was afraid he'd run out of gas since his light had come on earlier in the day.

I lived at Kerchaval and Alter at the time, and it took forever driving home from the west side. All my neighbors were grilling their food and we all ate like kings. Another friend owned a coffee house on Kerchaval, and a bunch of us went there to get all the ice from his freezer. We then gathered the whole gang and sat around in his yard drinking the night away. It was quite fun.

At night, since I lived in an upper flat, I spent the night on the front porch under the stars because it was hot as hell inside.

I also find it hard to believe a tree branch in Ohio was the root cause of this outage.

**Swimmaven** · August-12-10, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by Corn.Bot

I was in my office in Kalamazoo... our power flickered at the time that everyone east of us was losing it. Around here it was business as usual because that small flinch was the height of the outage for us. Even at home, in an old house in an old neighborhood where we often lost electricity, phone, or cable sometimes in turn and sometimes altogether, we got to be spectators to the outage. Sunddenly it wasn't such a bad thing to be connected to Indiana. [[That was probably the only time I could say that with any real sincerity, LOL.)

I was in Battle Creek at the time taking care of my mother while my caretaker brother was NYC. It was a flicker for us, too.

My mother was hot to go shopping for shoes, orthopedic shoes, since hers were old.

My brother was on the last train out of NYC destined for New Jersey and got to his destination just before the blackout happened.

A terrorist attack? Hmmm, by the Bush-Cheney administration?

Pingu · August-12-10, 04:50 PM

I was in nerd oblivion, a climate-controlled computer lab with seamless back-up generators. The monitors didn't even blink. Didn't know there was a problem until I later stepped out onto the street.

**Gannon** · August-12-10, 05:00 PM

http://www.bariumblues.com/haarpblack2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_London_blackout

**Gannon** · August-12-10, 05:02 PM

And then this one:

http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/...?ArticleID=930

Wow. Just Wow.

**Gannon** · August-12-10, 05:04 PM

[[couple that study with the one that happened to catch the clean air during the FAA shutdown of the skies during 9/11, and you've got some tremendous environmental impact information regarding our current lifestyle and economy)

I'm ready for ol' Mom Nature to sneeze us off the planet...and I think we deserve it, virus that we mere humans are to her.

**milesdriven** · August-12-10, 05:13 PM

I was in Puerto Escondido, Mexico at the the time, and all the Mexicans thought it was "terrorismo".

**DanFromDetroit** · August-12-10, 05:31 PM

I was working at a Panera bread at the time so I subsisted on cinnamon rolls and beer in the fridge. Watched the Perseid Meteor showers from my front lawn in GPF with my neighbors across the street . Best shower I've seen in years. Also took nice cold showers and used my potty with GPF/GPC water running strong - good times.

**Brock7** · August-12-10, 07:26 PM

I'm struck by how dim and spread out Detroit's light is compared to the other cities.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/nightli...efore-text.jpg

**East Detroit** · August-12-10, 08:27 PM

I was sitting in Old Main at Wayne State, doing some homework before class and left the light off in the classroom as I like it [[plenty coming in from outside). Then I heard the elevator alarms go off in the distance a few times and I thought not much of it. Once class time started an hour later and nobody showed up, I realized something was wrong and went outside and saw all the traffic lights out.

Went to the top of the parking garage to survey what was going on and decided I would wait there until rush hour cleared. Drove home and radio stations out except a couple who were reporting the news.

My main concern was whether or not to go to Pine Knob.
Later on my main concern was getting some water to drink.

**SMRJim** · August-12-10, 08:44 PM

I was driving down Milford Rd on my way to Lyon Oaks golf course. I was listening to Tom Ryan on 104.3. He was talking to a kid who had been working at the station [[I forget what that term is!) and it was his last day. They were joking about the kid making mistakes in the studio and then the sound went out. I thought it was a joke, like they were saying he made them go off the air. So I waited a little bit and then changed the station and there was no reception anywhere. Then I got to an intersection and the trafiic lights were out. That's when I knew something was up. Luckily I was almost to the course, missed the heavy traffic jams that soon followed. Then everyone kept saying they thought it was a terrorist attack, since it wasn't ALL that long after 9/11.

**East Detroit** · August-12-10, 09:09 PM

Intern?

Did you play golf?

LodgeDodger · August-12-10, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by Mikeg

Gannon, the complete lack of clouds [[not to mention the fact that at 23:15 EST on Aug 14, Anchorage, AK would still be 2 hours away from sunset) suggested to me that your image has been photoshopped. I checked Snopes.com and they state it is a composite image that has been inaccurately manipulated. Click this link to read their analysis and view some real satellite images of the blackout.

Now THAT'S a conspiracy!