| On This Day in American History |
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On Aug. 14, 2003, a massive blackout hits the eastern United States and parts of Canada. Major cities like New York City, Cleveland and Detroit were impacted. An overgrown tree making contact with a power line triggered a series of events that led to the outages. In some places, power was restored in a few hours, but in others, it took more than a day. Damage in New York City alone was estimated at over $500 million as the blackout caused problems for the subway, traffic lights, hospitals and water pumping stations. Despite fears the blackout would lead to looting, there was very little reported. |
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