Where were you during the blackout of 2003?

[Gistok]

2003.... good lord, has it been that long already!

I was driving westbound I-696 going to my credit union in Southfield [[not sure if they had the CU Service Centers back then, otherwise I would have saved a trip)... and suddenly noticed everyone was driving slower... found out on the radio [[or lack thereof)... and turned around at Coolidge [[quite a feat with no traffic lights) and headed back to SCS.

I have to agree that since everyone was in the same boat, everyone was somehow nicer to each other on the roadways... and even neighbors were much friendlier... got invited to a friends barbeque [[use up the frozen foods)... and went swimming in their "nice and cool" pool. Entertained ourselves afterwards around a firepit until 2AM.

Funny how without appliances, phones, cell phones, TVs, Computers... etc... people gathered together and just plain COMMUNICATED... the old fashioned way....

The old adage about "earlier simpler times" certainly held true... people were much more polite and less stressed out.... we could use an occasional blackout to bring us back down to reality....

[detroitbob]

I was working in Ann Arbor, and of course running late in the morning did not fill up the gas tank...the black out hit, and of course, the office was evacuated. Made it home [[ at that point, swest Detroit) on fumes and the great gas mileage on the Chevy GEO Metro. In actuality, the traffic conditions were not that bad on city streets...everyone seem to respect the self imposed 4 way stop at intersections.

[Fury13]

Gee, more nostalgia! Fun times!

Let me think... oh, I know... I was in my mom's basement, same place I am right now!

[LodgeDodger]

We were getting ready to move my mother from Northern Michigan to our neighborhood. Talk about stressful!

[JTistle1]

I was home from work already,[[napping). Power at the old house used to go out quite a bit, so I didn't think much of it, until my buddy's wife called for me to rescue her. She was out of gas and her husband was down at Ford Race Day downtown. My wife was at Cedar Pointe, stuck on a ride. After we found out that the power outage was caused in Ohio, I gave my wife grief and blamed it on her. I still tease her about that.

[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.)

[Diehard]

It's great to see how many people enjoyed it! I know I did.

[lpg]

I was at home. I watched how people reacted. I live close to a gas station and a couple of young businessmen [[early teens) purchased a couple of cases of water for about 4.00 and then sold it by the bottle for 2.00 each. When the power came on the gas station was one of the few that had power in the area. The lines stretched in every direction. The police were there several times due to jerks driving around the lines and attempting to cut in front.of everyone waiting. The manager refused to turn the pumps on to those people, then it would get a little ugly. The cops would send them on their way. After full power was restored, it took a couple of weeks for the Meijer store to be fully restocked with batteries and canned goods and water. I often wondered how it would have been if the power had not restored for a few weeks. I had a generator to run the fridge and we slept in the basement. Just learned that being prepared can make it a little easier.

[vivadetroit]

I was working on the 10th floor of a tower in Southfield and had to climb down the stairs in the dark. I remember a lot of people freaking out from the outage and since they had to descend more than 3 floors! It was gridlock all the way to the Lodge and then no one on the freeway from 8 Mile to downtown.

I lived in the Greektown Lofts above Niki´s and we had one heck of a BBQ in the parking lot which is now a parking tower. It was great - everyone brought their perishable food and beer down to the lot and we had a huge party. There were a bunch of people from Africa in town for some festival in Hart Plaza and they were wandering around downtown in search of food and drink. We fed them and they hung out with us til the police came. The police stopped since they saw fire and ate with us and then took off. The only downside: climbing 6 long flights up to my apt to sleep!

Then it rained like crazy the next day and we stuck buckets out on the roof to collect water so we could flush the toilets. We had a huge collective breakfast in one of the empty apts and then I took off for my friend´s cottage up north to escape. Good times!!!

[Detroit Stylin]

I had JUST stepped out of the elevator on my floor of the building I used to live in [[tenth), when all of a sudden the hallway went dark as the elevator doors closed behind me....

[Patrick]

Cant recall where I was but I was driving...I think on Van Dyke in Warren but I remember our SH neighborhood became a sort of partyland. Few people had generators but I remember Romeo had power and everywhere north of maybe 27 mile or so. Lots of beer and smoking...

[luckycar]

At the Ann Arbor Wastewater Treatment Plant.We found out that our generators wouldn't syncro.We put about about 25 million gallons of semi-treated wastewater into the mighty Huron River.We spent all night towing around a generator to our lift stations,trying to keep the shit from backing up into basements.And we did a great job all night and into the next day.
Then the pricks at city hall told us all to top off our gas tanks so we could get home for some sleep,then make it back in 8 hours.So we did to the tune off about 120 gallons.No big deal,right?They had the nerve to ask us how each of us took.We told them to pound sand next time an emergency comes up.We all got a hardy thank you letter,and were told that "they were sorry", the amount of fuel used in private vehicles was ever mentioned!

[fastcarsandfreedom]

At the time I was working in Security Operations at what used to be called Casino Windsor.

The drive to work was challenging across the surface streets in Windsor with no signals. What I do remember is that it was hot, and the Casino was busy--the generators kept the action going, however, at some point we started to have difficultly maintaining operation of the HVAC, etc--so eventually we closed gaming, restaurants, bars, etc--by the evening we only had our hotel guests left--and the following day continued probelms with generating enough power for the whole complex resulted in us clearing our hotel guests. For several days after [[I think it was 3 or 4) - we stayed closed with a skeleton staff and a quiet and dimly lit gaming floor--definitely the most interesting time I spent working there.

Enjoyed yupislyr's photo--at about 1AM during the blackout I took a walk on my break down to the riverfront and looked out at Detroit and back at Windsor--it was something I'd never seen before and likely never will--at the time there were only a few lights in the Ren Cen and the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building--everything else was dark.

[Goose]

I had a generator to run the fridge and we slept in the basement. Just learned that being prepared can make it a little easier.

had an aquaintance that lived on Bishop, he had a generator and slept in the basement, he never woke up, fumes from the generator outside entered a basement window and killed him in his sleep

be careful.....

[lpg]

had an aquaintance that lived on Bishop, he had a generator and slept in the basement, he never woke up, fumes from the generator outside entered a basement window and killed him in his sleep

be careful.....

Only ran the generator during the day. Everything locked up for the night.

[ejames01]

I just left the children's museum in Ann Arbor when it happened. Did not pay attention to the one or two traffic lights that were out before getting on the freeway. I drove all the way to Southfield without knowing about anything that was going on. It wasn't until we got off 696 around Telegraph before we found out about the blackout.

It took almost 2 hours just to safely drive one mile.

[DetroitDad]

Ah yes, I was in downtown Farmington at the ice cream place. The ice cream place immediately put insulated tops over all the ice cream freezers, and closed.

Traffic moved real slow, and it wasn't until a couple of traffic lights that I realized there was no power in the entire area I was in, and flipped on WWJ News Radio 950 [[AM 950). They had a generator up right away, and kept reporting on and off [[to save electricity). While most people lost their cell phones, I did not, as Nextel had some sort of backup network at the time. Our home had generators as well, and my family just sat around a couple of lamps and read books.

Now, at the time my wife was working at Cedar Point, on that crowded Summer day. Her day was much stranger than mine.

[goggomobil]

I was doing some work on a house that belonged to friends from the Chopin and Panama St. area. When I heard WWJ announce that the blackout was spread over the northeast as well, I uttered 'Chinese hackers!'. I still think that's what happened.

That's a great picture, yupislyr.

[MrJones]

My family and I were staying with relatives in northern Virginia. We'd taken a day trip to Baltimore and it was hot hot hot, inside "Old Ironsides" and at the waterfront.
When the blackout hit we were in the aquaruim where its nice and cool. The power only flickered there, but they put us outside amid the alarm bells and afternoon swelter. After 15 - 20 minutes they let us back in. The power stayed on in Virginia as well, but we weren't sure if we could pump gas in PA or Ohio for the drive home. We stayed an extra day and everything went smooth on the ride home, so I pretty much missed it.
I attached a hometown photo from Newsweek. Time to update the material in the upstairs library...

[sirrealone]

I lived in Sterling Heights. I'm in IT and I luckily was working from home that day when the power went out. I didn't think much of it being that it was a hot day, until I got a page notifying that the place I worked, which was down in Monroe, had lost power as well. At that point, I called in to work [[phones were still working) and over the next couple of hours was able to glean what was going on through the radio and talking to people.

That night was fun, all the neighbors were outside talking and we all went through and exchanged batteries so that we could power our flashlights and radios. Everybody started off with at least one thing that wasn't working that they got working as a result of the exchange. That was cool.

The next morning I decided to go into work since they had a generator [[and A/C). I left really early so the roads were deserted and it was eerie driving in pitch black. I stayed on 16 Mile and Mound, both divided roads that they'd made straight through, with traffic on the mile roads having to use the turnarounds to get through.

It got even more eerie when, for whatever reason [[GM Tech Center?) there was a stretch of area along Mound Road, I think between 14 and 13 mile, that had restored power overnight. Driving down Mound towards it resembled the Vegas strip, it was such a contrast. Some of the traffic lights were blinking all three colors at once, something I'd never seen before and haven't since.

Coming home from work, most of the traffic signals were back on and power had been restored where I lived.

[GOAT]

Picking up my best friend and getting ready to head across the border to the Stooges reunion. Glad we didn't get across because they closed the border shortly afterward.

A wonderful night of hanging out and drinking...I think the electricity should be pulled once a month for 8 hours starting at 6:00PM.

People were friendly and everyone was out walking around.

[narnarnar]

Sitting in a dark livingroom with 3 pals bummed that the Stooges Reunion show had been cancelled....

[detroittrader]

I left work right away, stopped at a party store for 4 bags of ice and 2 cases of beer. That took care of priorities , so I continued home to check on the family and make sure we had candles, propane for the grill, etc.

[Mikeg]

I was floating on my back in my backyard swimming pool, listening to the radio over the background sounds coming from the pool pump motor and the neighborhood's a/c units. All of a sudden I heard a brief 60 cycle hum emanating from the DTE transformers and then it got unearthly quiet. Neighborhood blackouts in our area weren't uncommon, but the fact that my battery-operated radio went silent caused me to get out of the pool and scan the radio dial to see how many other stations were off the air. I think it was WJR that I found operating on emergency back-up power and they were already reporting the magnitude of the blackout. I went to the fridge, got a cold one and went back in the pool because I knew it was going to be quite a while before the power would be restored.

My wife was at the hairdresser's in the middle of getting her hair colored when the power went out. She looked a mess when she arrived home because they had no choice but to send her on her way with just a rinse and no styling.

[Ravine]

Picking up my best friend and getting ready to head across the border to the Stooges reunion. Glad we didn't get across because they closed the border shortly afterward.

A wonderful night of hanging out and drinking...I think the electricity should be pulled once a month for 8 hours starting at 6:00PM.

People were friendly and everyone was out walking around.

Not a bad idea, GOAT. Nobody's food would spoil in eight hours.

My wife & sons are rather heavily into TV, and while I felt bad for them missing out on it, I must say that its absence gave the house an atmosphere of serenity.
Speaking of preparation, though, one real blessing was the wind-up radio and flashlights which my wife had purchased not long before the blackout.
My girl looked like a real genius, behind that one. They're great.