Happy 5 Year Anniversary - Blackout 2003!

Today's the 5 year anniversary of the August 2003 Blackout which darkened the NE US and Southern Canada.

Wow, 5 years went fast. I've picked up a few new lights since then. Still waiting for another chance like that to use them...

I remember that day well - boy was it hot! I left work early, took the next day off and was sitting on a train waiting for it to leave grand central and WHAM. From what I remember, the emergency lighting in GC worked perfectly.

Wound up sharing a town car with four execs from NBC to southern Connecticut where I was visiting my folks - I think it took us about 3 and half hours to go 30 miles - the poor car driver had to go all the way back to queens.

I am going to try to be deep here: even though NYC was left in the dark, it was one of the brightest days for the city - every citizen was doing his job to help out everyone else. Free food and water from the bodegas, free sneakers from modells sporting goods, businessmen directing traffic - what could have been a chaotic and riotous situation was peaceful and calm - I was very very proud to be a new yorker that day.

Five years already? Wow. I wish I had my present collection back then, that would have been fun. I walked around using my Petzl incan headlights that had crappy beams and output. Can't wait to see what lights will be like on the 10th anniversary.

That's was the year I started looking for more efficient lighting to shave my kwh usage and to make backups last, getting back ups for everything (majourity in battery backup) and of course flashlights.

I lived at work for almost two weeks. We were on duty for 24 hrs (12 on/12 off) at a large high tech campus. The main power feed was left off until the grid got back into shape. Five years went fast. Most people are still not prepared for a disaster :shrug:

I lucked out....

I was unemployeed at the time, and went upstate to visit my best friend for a couple of days. When the blackout hit, we sat around a bit. Then when his two roomates came home, the girl suggested we get something to eat. We were all a bit hungry. But more importantly, the diner would likely have power since they use a seperate generator for this sort of thing. We ate comfortably. Plenty of good food and A/C.

When the meal was nearly done, the girl picked up her cellphone and called their home number. When it rang, she shouted "We have power!"

Sure enough, the electricity was back on in just a handful of hours. I stayed upstate for a bit longer. Until the trains started running reliably again.... and the power was back on in the city.

Yup, I got lucky. :thumbsup:

At the time I had basic lights; an incan Garrity 2D and 2AA, a Coleman 4D lantern, and I think I had a 2AA minimag as well. We sat outside with citrronella candles burning for a bit of light.

Now I've got enough lights, lanterns, and battteries to last a long time.

Took me 4 hours to get home from work...3 of those were spent sitting in a parking lot waiting for the traffic to die down.

Black Rose said:

At the time I had basic lights....

Click to expand...

All I had was an orange & black G.E., 2D inca that ironically put out a better beam than my old 3D stock Maglite.

Didn't start collecting lights til mid-2006.

Talk about freaky-a lightning bolt hit pretty close and the power went off momentarily. I thought at first it was a full-fledged blackout. This on the 5th anniversary of the big one in 2003. Life is stranger than fiction. BTW, prior to this we haven't had even momentary power interruptions for about 18 months running.

It does in deed go by fast, but personally I will be more than happy if I, or those I care for, never have to experience it again. It was not exactly my idea of fun. I am more than happy to use my lights in normal pedestrian day to day uses.

Back in 2003 I made 2 mistakes.
1) I forgot to check the Solitaire in my pocket before going home, otherwise I would know the battery was dead and grabbed the Dorcy 2AA in my desk drawer.
2) Once I found my Solitaire was dead, I was so thrown I tried to feel my way up my apartment building stairs instead of backing out and going to the nearest corner store for batteries. Feeling my way up the stairs was the easy part. Keeping track of which floor I was on was the scary part.
-
I had bought a Radio Shack branded Turtlelite/Dorcy 4AA 1LED floating lantern. I was impressed with the runtime so went looking for a pocketable LED light. Google brought me to CPF and...
-
...this is my 2452 post.

The blackout was where I truly learned to cherish my Surefire A2s. The E2s, M2s, M3, C2, C3, etc. all stayed on the shelf, but the A2 with a lanyard so that I could hang it from my neck to work hands free -- well it was the most useful tool I had during the whole mess. In the hallways and stairwells, the LEDs worked great and didn't eat up the batteries, but if I needed more light I just had to push the switch a bit more. What a great useful light.
I was at work, but I had a bunch of Surefire 2 cell lights (3 or 4?) with me.

By coincedence I stopped at Target that very morning and ended up buying my first Headlamp, a Brinkman 3 led (2 white 1 red) model. During that blackout I found out how handy a headlamp truly is, I found it handier than any other light for mst tasks. I cooked, washed dishes, read, played solitare, everything by that headlamp. Since then, they are in every kit and my wife and I both carry one in our work bags.

When the first Blackout in NYC hit in 1955, things were relatively calm. Looting took place 22 years later during the infamous 1977 Blackout. But 2003 was, for the most part, calm.

1955 was understandable. Many folks probably thought it couldn't happen again, not on a city-wide scale. 1977 was one of the worst Blackouts in American history.... until 2003 came along. Nice to see that Con-Ed did nothing to find a way of preventing another major Blackout. I guess 26 years just wasn't enough time. :ironic:

Get your lights ready for 2033.