Were you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

[tron3]

Flashaholics "fortunate" enough to be on the east coast for the blackout of August '03, tell your story. Here is my somewhat abridged version.

I had just left work minutes earlier and recall looking at my watch as the bus pulled up. According to official black out time, the power went out exactly as I was stepping up the bus. I felt a little light headed for a moment. As if the city power outage affected me. "Whoa...that never happened before." I was only 2 miles from my stop off and oddly, having the traffic lights out got me home in record time. I recall noticing traffic lights out and thought it was a local thing.

Well, I get home and find all the power is out. My only "big" flashlight at the time was my 3 D-cell Streamlight. (Like a mag). Plus my plastic 2 d-cell wand light from Air Force Basic Training.

I had a "phone saver" battery back up which allowed me to use my cordless home phone (I have no cell.). People could not reach me as I kept it turned off when I didn't use the phone.

I took an early shower around 7:00. I figured it would be a good time since the hot water was still hot.

I decide to do some video taping of the event but my camcorder battery was only about 50%, so I hussled to get footage. Then I recalled I have a power inverter. I sat in my father's car over an hour waiting for the battery to charge and got plenty more footage.

As many will recall, it was a HOT night and not an a/c unit to be found running. About 12-14 hours later, I woke to find the power was on.
That was the last practical use I had for my streamlight. :lolsign:

 

[GadgetTravel]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

I was totally unprepared. We had a few flashlights, none of which were in good working order as it turned out. One worked a bit, it was a rechargeable, but very DIM. I could charge it in my car. That blackout is what started me down this path I mainly used an HP Ipaq as a light.

A couple months after the blackout I went to Home Depot and bought about 8 different Maglites (I was on the path but I had not achieved enlightenment.) As I was checking out the guy behind me said, do you work for the powercompany and know something we dont? I answered, "no state utility commission and yes". Left him with a very puzzled look on his face.

My wife was stuck in Fun City with no light. Early on in my real path after finding this site I gave her a QIII. She is quite grateful and pretty tolerant of flashlights as a result of her experience in the blackout and the last mini blackout we had where I pulled out all sorts of things like LED modded minimags to use in candle mode and a Jr. Luxeon for a handheld light for her.

I do need to get some area lighting stuff though, like some of the D cell LED lamps or something.

 

[pathalogical]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

I had that week off work as vacation time. I had a vet appointment for my bird at 5pm that day. At about 4pm I had to get my birdie in her carrier box. I opened the garage door from inside, went out and took my car out of the garage, went inside to get Sophie (a cockatiel) and back out to the car we went. I hit the remote to close the garage door and it would not close. I went inside and said "What happened, power go out ?" The reply was yes. Not thinking twice about it, I got back in my car and drove to the vet. First set of traffic lights, out. Second set of lights, out. As I continued driving, I quickly saw that all the traffic lights were out. Obvioulsy it was still daylight and there was no other reference such as street lights, apartment bulidings to indicate a power outage. Got to the vets on time and when I walked in...the lights were out. That's when I heard from the employees about the wide scale effect of the outage. We looked at each other and said "Terrorism ???". My bird was treated and we went back home. Flashlights I used were my 2D and AA Mags, and a 2D Radio Shack that my parents used. I think it was freaky seeing the neighbourhood in pitch black darkness. Didn't have my nvd at the time, and never thought to go walking around the hood with a flashlight. We were without power for about 9-10 hours. Other parts of the city were without power for several days. Also, my little Sophie is just fine today and enjoys flying around the basement, in daylight of couse !!!

 

[kelmo]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

Where on the East Coast did the "Flashaholic Luvfest" take place?

 

[zespectre]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

(chuckling to myself) I still remember that one.
I was on a week long group camping trip in the central Adirondacks with wife and friends and we had NO IDEA anything had happened until we got back. My wife teased me for weeks that I had missed my chance to "shine" (urgh).

 

[paulr]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

Kelmo, it was more or less the whole northeast including part of Canada. I was at my mom's place in NYC when the computer monitor went out. I thought someone had tripped over the cord or something, but then I saw all the lights in the apt. were out (it was daytime so this wasn't obvious) and power was out in the apt. I thought a fuse had blown. Then I went out in the hallway and saw the hall lights were out, the whole building was without power. Then I went outside and saw the whole block was without power. I walked several blocks and there was no power anywhere, but I still thought it was a brief local outage. Then I saw some people gathered around a car listening to the car radio, saying power was out all up and down the east coast as far as Ohio. I was shocked at that, I hadn't remotely guessed it was anything of that magnitude.

It was a nice blackout, summertime, no concerns about anyone freezing. Most activity in NYC came to a halt so it was like getting a little vacation in the middle of the hustle and bustle. There was practically no looting or anything like that. A number of people were inconvenienced because of transportation outages but for most, even that wasn't such a big deal. There were a lot of outdoor barbecues as people used up the perishables in their refrigerators to keep them from spoiling. Restaurants gave away free food on the sidewalk. Stores stayed open til it got dark. All the flashlights and AA and D batteries and candles were snapped up practically instantly, but other sizes of batteries were plentiful. I bought a 12-pack of AAA cells for my Arc AAA just out of paranoia. I had several lights with me including a UK 2L (sort of comparable to a Nuwai Q3), PT Blast, Arc LS, Arc AAA, and a few cheap coin cell LED lights. I gave away the coin lights to various people and they were highly appreciated. The Arc AAA was by far the most useful light. As the sun went down I propped it in a cup and used it as a room light, just sort of an extravagance since it ran for 5+ hours on an AAA cell and I had a dozen extra cells. But it was mainly needed for getting around inside the building after the hallway safety lights had gone out (they are fairly bright but have only a few hours worth of battery power). I went to bed fairly early since it got dark and there wasn't much else to do. Catching up on sleep was nice.

Overall opinions:

a) Having a flashlight--any kind of light including a cheapo coin cell light--makes a big difference. In an urban area it's easy to get caught in total darkness (interior of buildings, subway, etc).

b) Having an array of fancy flashaholic lights, very bright lights, etc., IMO for most people isn't that much better than a simple coin light or 1AAA light. I'd be comfortable in another blackout with just my edc Photon II on my keys. Enormous runtime isn't required. You need the light to get from one place to another, which normally takes no more than a few minutes. The rest of the time, if you have to sit around in the dark, maybe it's a little bit inconvenient or discomforting, but no big deal. Some people did make some use of their Surefires etc. (one CPF'er was in the subway and used his G2 to light the way out for all the rest of the passengers) but for me, a small LED was always plenty in terms of brightness.

c) Headlamps are great. My mom wanted to cook something and had no way to hold a flashlight and I didn't have a headlamp. I held a light for a while for her, and then got an idea: the stores were still open, they were all out of flashlights but I bought a baseball cap at a dollar store. Attached the PT Blast using its pocket clip for an instant headlamp, worked great. But I think ultra-compact LED headlamps are extremely useful lights and wish more of them were available, like a 1AA model with a Zipka-like retractable cord. I counted up the number of AA cells in my mom's apartment scavengeable from things like clocks, cordless computer mouse, cassette Walkman, etc., and it was way over a dozen. So that would have kept a CMG Infinity-type light supplied for weeks.

d) I think building codes should be updated to require much longer-running emergency lights in hallways. Instead of those 30 watt sealed beam thingies that run only an hour or two, they could have some 0.5 watt LED clusters that run for several days and make enough light to not bump into things. These would activate after there wasn't enough juice left to run the high powered lights. It wouldn't add much cost to the fixtures.

e) Having a battery powered radio at home is very useful, it was our best source of info. We had a largish radio/cassette player powered by four D cells and I had just recently bought some cells for it (normally we ran it on house current) so those came in very handy since there were no batteries available during the first day of the blackout. The next day though, some stores did get deliveries, IIRC.

f) A large radio with a big speaker is a good thing, since several people can listen at once. It's much better than having some tiny earphone radio or something like that, since it gives a kind of psychological support to the people who are gathered around it with each other.

Anyway, although some people were inconvenienced or suffered losses due to stuff like spoiled food or missing a day of work, the blackout wasn't any big disaster. For me, at least, it was quite relaxing and enjoyable, getting to play with flashlights and all that.

 

[tron3]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

Where on the East Coast did the "Flashaholic Luvfest" take place?

Practically all of it. New York was OUT. NJ was out, but lot of South Jersey had power due to having their own power company. All up and down the east into Canada, and even into Ohio. PA, etc. Could probably find a map on google is you look hard enough.

It sucked because of the heat, but if it were to happen now, during the cool time of the year, lots of food would not be lost.

 

[redduck]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

I thought Washington DC was not part of it.

 

[kelmo]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

Did this coincide with a big solar flare? I rememeber a solar flare knocking alot of stuff off-line, including a big portion of our power grid awhile back.

 

[zespectre]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

If I remember correctly, DC itself was unaffected but some of the DC "Metro" area took a hit. Like I say, I was in Upstate NY at the time.

 

[dfred]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

Was on the fringes of it here in Michigan. Did see some blips in 60Hz line freq on my UPS monitoring software at work.

Here's a fairly useful article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_North_America_blackout

 

[Amadeus93]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

Here are a couple more good graphics/pics:

http://www.volpe.dot.gov/infosrc/highlts/04/fall/images/publish1.gif (map showing the extent of the outage)

http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/swpod2003/18aug03a/dmsp.gif (before/after maps with major cities labeled)

 

[Gone Jeepin]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

I remember the Blackout well. I was off work that day due to schedule rotation, lucky for me... It was still light out and I had been reading a book that afternoon. I had no idea the power had gone out until the house started to get warm and the clock on the stove was stuck at 4:13pm. I headed over to my parents house a few miles away, staying off the main roads as much as I could. I listened to the radio on the way over to get a feel for what was going on. I helped cook some dinner on the grill and set up a large D cell light/radio/weather radio gizmo that my brother gave me or my folks to use. They had all the other basics well set so it was no big deal at their house. I went back to my house shortly after dinner and set myself up for the evening. I was reading and listening to the news radio until late that night. Plenty of lights to use, including a Petzel Zippka, ARC AAA & AA, SF A2 w/blue led, Elite X-Ray, SF M3 & E2e... It was the next morning when this thing didn't lok like it would end soon that I went back over to my folks house and helped my Dad hook up the generator that powers about half the house. We brewed fresh coffee, kept the freezers and fridges cold, checked the gas supply and such. I was glad that my parents were prepared and it was no real hardship on them. I was also prepared at my house and was able to help some of my neighbors as well with little things. I was just glad that it didn't last too long in my area because it really was getting hot.

 

[pathalogical]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

One thing I forgot to mention was how screwed up some peoples priorities are. Both the beer store and liquor stores (neither products are sold at corner stores) had huge line ups outside their stores. Several dozen people standing in line to buy booze. So many people, that they had to have police supervision at the door. Two people go in, two come out, another two get to go in and so on. Funny thing is, is that the 7-11 is physically attached to the beer store, yet no line ups there. No one buying milk and bread for kids to eat, just a bunch of moms and dads desperately waiting their turn to load up on beer. And if you're wondering...some were holding junior's hand while waiting in line. I believe CNN reported that during hurricane warnings, Wal-Marts number one selling product was beer.

http://www.hurricaneville.com/pop_tarts.html

 

[jeep44]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

I work in a very large factory on the outskirts of Detroit, and I was just starting my shift when the power went out. I was in the press room, where a lot of stamping presses were pounding out parts. All of a sudden,everything was dark, and quiet. All over the area, you could hear the coil steel reels collapsing, and the coils of steel unwinding like a clock spring. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Floods were occuring all over the plant as valves let go. All I had was my 2D maglite, which I still thought of as the best out there-but it was sure better than nothing, which was what most of the people in the plant had. I spent a lot of time guiding people to the doors before management got the building cleared and sent everyone home.
After a tedious trip home, I started getting ready for what I was sure would be a long time without power-I started draining gas from the tank of one of my vintage vehicles, as I had only a small amount of gas on hand,and of course, all the gas stations were without power,too. That night, I had several candle lanterns (I'm a CW reenactor) going in the kitchen, and my trusty 1944 Coleman lantern going on the counter (all the windows were open). As I was getting my generator out of the front of the garage in the morning,the power came back on-so a very painless experience.
As an aside, I just installed a propane/natural gas adaptor on my generator,and started it for the first time on propane this evening-it worked perfectly.I don't ever have to rely on just gasoline again.

 

[paulr]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

I don't blame those folks for buying beer. The blackout was like a sudden and unexpected enforced picnic for lots of people. They had food and stuff around the house already, so they didn't need to buy more. But with the TV's and computers and electrical appliances all suddenly out of service, there was nothing to do in the evening but sit around and socialize, and beer is a perfectly good lubricant for such activity. The blackout was great for increasing human-to-human interaction and we should have them more often.

 

[scrappy]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

darn right I was ready... I was on vacation sipping wines in Sonoma... watching tv I saw a sea of people streaming out of the office buildings in NY, I said to the lady hosting the wine tasting... excuse me a little more of the Merlot and shut off that tv please....

Rich

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

As an aside, I just installed a propane/natural gas adaptor on my generator,and started it for the first time on propane this evening-it worked perfectly.I don't ever have to rely on just gasoline again.

Do you have more info on this? I have to think our Coleman 5K would run way smoother on Propane!

 

[jeep44]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

yes, I got my generator conversion kit from http://www.propane-generators.com

I got the kit that allows use of either gasoline,propane,or natural gas. Basically, you remove the air cleaner on your engine, and install a ring that feeds propane or nat gas to the mouth of the carb.Then you replace the air cleaner. This ring is connected by hose to a large regulator that you mount somewhere near the carb. this regulator is then connected to your propane tank,or natural gas source. It only took me a short time to hook all this up, and all necessary parts are supplied. The regulator has a primer button on it, and pressing it for a moment allows gas to flow to the carb. The engine starts with just a pull or two.
A screw on the reg. allows you to fine-tune the fuel delivery. So far, I am very pleased with this.

 

[PJ]

Re: Where you ready for the great blackout of Aug '03?

I had just started down the road to flashaholism. I had a red Photon 1 on my keychain and an Energizer 2AA plastic cheapo in my workbench. When the power went out there were 7 of us working in a 20' by 40' shop with no windows. I pulled out my keys and found the 2AA light, using that to prop a door open to let some light in. A few other people had 2D plastic lights and used them to guide people out of the building. It was still light when I got home so I dug up a PT Attitude and a Pelican 4D waterproof light. I had about a case of bottled water and about 4 days worth of canned food to fall back on and the water and gas were still working. I found out later that a local Meijer store has a generator back-up and they were open through the blackout. I now have about 15 flashlights and 2 plastic shoeboxes full of batteries.