Blackout Blues In Midwest

Detroit And Cleveland Hit Hard By Power Outage

(CBS/AP)  Major Midwest cities were dealing Friday with crises spun off by a massive blackout, with Detroit motorists searching desperately for gasoline and faucets in Cleveland going dry.

The power outage that spread across the northeast quarter of the country Thursday knocked out power to millions in Michigan and Ohio. DTE Energy had restored power to 330,000 of its 2.1 million customers from Lansing to Detroit by midday Friday, but warned that it could be the end of the weekend before all had electricity again.

Electric service in the Cleveland-area was recovering more quickly. First Energy said power was restored Friday to all but 60,000 customers.

But the blackout knocked out water service to 1.5 million people in the Cleveland area, which relies on water pumped from Lake Erie. The electric pumps slowly began working Friday, and the National Guard brought in 7,600 gallons of drinking water in “water buffalo” tanker trucks to help until service was fully restored.

Scott McFarland of CBS Affiliate WOIO-TV filed this report from Cleveland:

Welcome to the other city that doesn't sleep. There are a lot of tired eyes in Cleveland. No power, no air conditioning overnight, and no water for one million people. We can't imagine anybody managed to fall asleep. We're at one of the power stations in Cleveland. They have restored 350,000 of 700,000 people without power. That's happening faster than the water.

Bottled water being sold out in stores, and Mayor Jane Campbell has declared a state of emergency, asking people to conserve water, put it in coolers, put it in their refrigerators.

Only one of Cleveland's four pumping stations is needed to get water to all customers, and city officials never anticipated all four pumps would go down at once, said Julius Ciaccia, Cleveland water commissioner.

“This wasn't supposed to happen,” Mayor Campbell said. “We need to make sure this doesn't happen again.”

Everyone was expected to have water service Friday, but city officials warned residents to boil water before drinking or cooking with it until midday Sunday while the supply is tested.

Officials in Detroit, where pumps were operating at about half the usual level, also issued a boil alert. But gasoline appeared to be of greater concern to Motor City residents, judging by the long lines stretching from the few gas stations that managed to secure backup power. Some motorists drove far to the west to find an electrical pump that worked.

A Meijer station in Brighton ran out of gas about 7 a.m., leaving Brian Howse, 41, to sit on the tailgate of his truck with a cup of coffee and wait for the tanker expected to replenish the supply. Other gas stations in town had long lines, he said.

“Everywhere you go, the traffic's all backed up on the road,” Howse said. “I don't want to wait all day. (But) if I have no choice, I have no choice.”

Friday morning, Gov. Jennifer Granholm declared a state of emergency for five southeast Michigan counties and signed an executive order to expedite nearly a million gallons of gasoline from West Michigan to the Detroit area.

The power outage also was blamed for a small explosion at the Marathon Ashland refinery about 10 miles south of Detroit, Melvindale police Chief Sam Pedron said. The outage affected a pump at the complex, which led to a buildup of pressure and triggered the explosion, he said.

No one was injured, but police evacuated one mile around the 183-acre complex and sent hundreds of residents to seek shelter elsewhere.

Also affected were more than 50 assembly and other plants operated by General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group in the upper Midwest, New York and parts of Canada.

Detroit police Chief Jerry Oliver said 22 people had been involved in some minor looting overnight, while Cleveland police reported 20 to 30 break-ins, twice the amount of a typical summer weekday.

In downtown Cleveland, half-illuminated high-rises and a lit-up Jacobs Field, home to the Indians, returned a look of normalcy to the skyline early Friday. But street and traffic lights were still dark, lending a sleepy atmosphere to the usually bustling rush hour.

Cleveland workers were told to stay home until noon, but many ignored the advice.

“I have no water and no lights so I might as well come to work,” said attorney Lori Zocolo. She arrived at her downtown office at 5:30 a.m. wearing a T-shirt and shorts and carrying her business suit.