U.S.

More Power To Them

August 15, 2003 / 10:14 PM EDT / CBS/AP

The power outage that swept darkness over a large swath of the United States and Canada continued to cause problems Friday.

The massive blackout shut down more than 100 power plants, including 22 nuclear reactors, in the two countries and knocked out power to 50 million people over a 9,300-square-mile area stretching from New England to Michigan. Three deaths were blamed on it.

Even as lights flickered on in some places, crucial systems lagged behind. In Cleveland, 1.5 million people were without water service because there was no power for pumps. Detroit's water system operated at half capacity and warned citizens to boil water. New York City's subways were not expected to resume service in time for the evening rush.

The lights went back on in Connecticut, but the governor still pleaded for residents to conserve after a transmission line that feeds the southwestern part of the state went down around 5:45 a.m.

The New York Independent System Operator, which manages the state's electric grid, ordered utilities to initiate rolling blackouts during the day to save electricity.

Around the country, officials wrestled to get things back to normal:

In Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm declared a state of emergency. Some Michigan customers may have to endure a weekend without electricity.

President Bush, in brief remarks before a speech at the Santa Monica National Recreation Area in California, praised citizens' response. "The people of the Northeast and Midwest who were affected by last night's blackout kept their calm, were decent to their neighbors, really showed the rest of the country and the world the true character of the American people," he said.

With sewage treatment plants blacked out, untreated waste releases forced the closing of beaches in New York City and Cleveland.

About 60,000 customers in the Cleveland area were still without power early Friday. A utility spokesman said power was expected to be restored to all customers sometime Friday, but warned of rolling blackouts. Tanker cars filled with drinking water were ordered to fan out across the city in case they were needed.

New York and Connecticut officials traded barbs in a continuing disagreement over an underwater power cable between New Haven and Long Island.

About 6,000 New Jersey homes and businesses remained without power Friday afternoon. Power was expected to be fully restored later in the day. Gov. James E. McGreevey lifted the state of emergency that had mobilized 700 National Guardsmen and 300 extra state troopers.

By late morning Friday, about 26,000 customers in Connecticut remained dark. All customers in Pennsylvania, where more than 100,000 customers lost electricity or saw brownouts, appear to have regained electric service by noon. All the roughly 20,000 customers lost power in western Massachusetts had service restored by Friday.

Electricity slowly returned to Toronto and other areas of Ontario, but officials warned of rolling blackouts. Police in Toronto and Ottawa reported scattered looting.

Travel woes persisted. US Airways canceled all its flights through New York's LaGuardia airport through mid-afternoon, and its morning flights from Detroit.

American Airlines reported 183 cancellations and said service to New York City and Detroit might not resume until late Friday.

Continental Airlines' Newark, N.J., hub was running, but the airline canceled several morning flights out of Cleveland. JetBlue canceled 20 flights to and from New York's Kennedy airport.

In New York, Con Ed said power had been restored to about half the customers who lost it.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said a trying, hot night had cost the life of a 40-year-old who suffered a heart attack during one of New York City's 60 serious fires, most caused by candles used to stave off darkness. There were 800 elevator rescues; 80,000 calls to 911 and a record 5,000 emergency medical service calls.

The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq resumed stock trading on schedule Friday morning, but the American exchange delayed trading because problems at a Consolidated Edison substation prevented air conditioning from reaching the trading floor.

There was scant indication of what had caused the outage, which the New York Independent System Operator detected at 4:11 p.m. Thursday, but some indications pointed to Michigan.

NYISO president William Museler said huge power fluctuations originating from a Midwest power plant started the downfall of the grid. The Ontario system could not sustain the swings, and the problem migrated to New York.

Both federal and state agencies, as well as congressional committees, are expected to investigate the blackout and try to determine why measures put in place to isolate grids and keep power disruptions from spreading failed to do so.

"We'll view this rolling blackout as a wake-up call — a wake-up call to modernize our delivery systems," Mr. Bush said.

Electric industry and government officials said the nation's power grid needs major upgrades.

"We have been underinvesting for a number of years in the system, so the system is not up to carrying the kinds of loads that are now imposed," Granger Morgan, director of the Carnegie Mellon electric industry center, told The Early Show.