Power returns with slew of new problems

By Larry McShane
Associated Press

LIGHTS OFF: Rush hour didn't happen in downtown Cleveland, above, as Mayor Jane Campbell asked people to stay away while the city worked to restore power and water. Associated Press

Electricity flowed in Cleveland on day two of the blackout, but water moved at a trickle. Times Square was once again the luminous center of Manhattan, but none of the subways was running. The lights clicked on in more than a million homes in Michigan, but gas remained scarce around Detroit.

Some customers in the Cleveland area, upstate New York and New York City received the unkindest cut of all: Their power was restored and then turned off in rolling blackouts needed to conserve electricity.

Officials in Michigan warned that the whir of air conditioners and the glow of televisions might not return until the end of the weekend as the cause of the massive power failure remained a mystery. Canada and the United States formed a joint task force yesterday to investigate what caused the blackout and how to prevent it from happening again.

The blackout washed across a huge slice of North America, knocking out service in parts of eight states and Canada in just nine seconds.

President Bush, on a tour of a California national park, said part of the problem was "an antiquated system" to distribute electricity nationally.

"It's a wake-up call," Bush said. "The grid needs to be modernized, the delivery systems need to be modernized."

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he had received a call from Bush congratulating the city on its handling of the crisis. Crime was actually down overnight compared with an average evening, he said.

"I think all New Yorkers have done their part," Bloomberg said. "If we compare this time to what happened in 1977, when there was chaos and crime, this time we saw compassion."

LIGHTS ON: Times Square ice-cream sellers found the evening less panicked, with freezers working as power returned to New York City. Associated Press

Late yesterday, Consolidated Edison announced that all power had been restored to New York City. But by then some New Yorkers had already endured a power failure longer than the 25-hour blackout of 1977.

While New Yorkers and virtually all the 1.4 million Ohioans who lost power were back on line, Detroit faced a second hot summer night without air conditioning. Close to a million people were still without power in the Motor City.

The failure of electric pumps led to a run on gasoline, with Detroit residents lining up to fill 'er up. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed an executive order to expedite nearly a million gallons of gasoline from western Michigan to the Detroit area.

Cleveland struggled mightily to provide residents with water for simple tasks like brushing teeth, but taps barely flowed. By yesterday afternoon, power was restored and there was hope that water would soon follow.

Restored power was merely a tease for an unlucky swath of New York City and state, where the electricity crackled and then quickly ceased. Upstate utilities were ordered shortly after restoring power to initiate rolling blackouts as a conservation measure, affecting as many as 50,000 customers.

"This is the crisis of a career for me," said Julius Ciaccia, Cleveland water commissioner, a 27-year employee. Cleveland officials, fearful of sewage flowing into Lake Erie, closed the city's beaches.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, spoke with New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso before the market opened yesterday. Stocks barely moved as trading resumed amid some glitches. Associated Press

The call for conservation echoed across each affected state. "Every light bulb matters today," said Long Island Power Authority Chairman Richard Kessel. "If you don't turn them off, they will go off."

Despite plunging several of the nation's largest cities into darkness, the power failure resulted in few reports of vandalism or increased violence. But there were at least two deaths. A 40-year-old New York man suffered a heart attack during an overnight fire, and a 42-year-old woman in Connecticut died in a blaze sparked by a candle. Her husband and 10-year-old son were badly burned.

In Canada's capital, Ottawa, police reported 23 cases of looting, along with two deaths possibly linked to the blackout — a pedestrian hit by a car and a fire victim. There were also reports of minor looting in Brooklyn and Detroit.

Officials in Michigan also blamed the power failure for a small explosion at a refinery about 10 miles south of Detroit. No injuries were reported, but hundreds of residents within a mile of the refinery were evacuated.