The Big Blackout of August 11, 2003

I was at work, in a meeting. The lights flickered, then the backup generator kicked in and everything returned to normal. It was a matter of 3 seconds. The meeting continued, and we were blissfully unaware what was happening across much of the northeastern US.

After the meeting ended, we returned to our offices, still unaware. Office phones worked, email worked, the internet worked. It was not until you checked your voice mail, or checked news sites like yahoo or CNN - that you became aware that things outside of your company were not as they should be.

Everyone’s first instinct was to call their loved ones - an idea that 4.5 million people in the metropolitan New York area had. Hence, “System Busy” messages galore. The good thing compared to 9/11 was that the Internet, powered by many companies not affected by the power-outage, provided much reassurance - no terror attack!

Subways stopped halfway between stations, or if you were really unlucky - underneath the Hudson River. I wasn’t sure if I should leave work early - after all, without traffic lights, traffic would be chaotic. Interestingly, no major delays on NJ roadways according to metrocommute.com - one of the my essential traffic websites. However, all Manhattan traffic cameras were unavailabe, go figure.

After finishing up several experiments - great when you have instant access to all walk-up instruments, I got into my car and rolled home - nicely air-conditioned. Traffic flowed freely on the parkway, I guess most people already got where they needed to be - I made it home in just under 40 minutes (not bad for a regular day either), because the nonexisting traffic lights allowed traffic to proceed much faster. On my way home, I was listening to NPR - those folks were broadcasting via telephone, using only flashlights and scribbled notes.

My wife, as usual, was right at the epicenter of the action - or inaction in this case. Like on 9/11 - only now it was 8/14. By now, cell phones were pretty useless. You start realizing that our great wireless world has its limitations - 4.5 million people in the metropolitan NY area trying to call loved ones…

Major Bloomberg was saying that power would hopefully come back before darkness, quite important if you don’t have flashlights. I had one, fortunately, along with an adequate supply of Corona and Stella Artois in the fridge.

However, I realized that our household is not really equipped for emergencies of this sort. Better buy some spare batteries, candles, water, and other necessities. Anyway, the most important piece seems to be a battery-powered radio. You just sit in your apartment, and you have no clue what’s going on. On 9/11, you had at least power. You didn’t have media coverage via the internet, but you could at least tune into CNN. This time, in NYC, there’s no power, no TV, and no radio.

But, my reliable laptop is still working, so I have a little light, and a little time to jot down some thoughts as they emerge. Just imagine if you had a desktop computer… with that, you would be pretty much stuck. What effects does this outage have on the economy? I guess there’s no internet-shopping right now, and goods are stuck halfway between merchant and consumer. Oh well, I didn’t order anything recently.

I better make sure that I get as much done as possible during daylight, it’s starting to get dark in our apartment overlooking the Hudson River. I can see that Ferry service is the only way out of Manhattan. I wonder if my wife has relinquished any wishes to return home, and just crash at one of her many colleague’s places near NYU. Pays to have friends.

Anyway, after raiding the fridge (bread with hard salami), I am back at my faithful Macintosh laptop. I wonder what all those people stuck in traffic, in airports, far from home, are thinking. As I heard on the radio earlier, all NYC hotels have been booked out, and people are calmly sitting in the streets. Do they have light/electricity in hotels? Do you get cheaper rates if your room doesn’t have electricity?

Another advantage of having a laptop: You can listen to music, and even watch DVDs if you’re so inclined.

Going back 7 years, in 1996, there was another huge power outage in New York City. That one lasted 25 hours, and caused huge damage in most of the university laboratories and institutes. Remember, a lot of biological samples are stored at extremely low temperatures. So when the electricity is gone, and the refrigerators start warming up, many of the samples are being destroyed.

Imagine that your entire PhD thesis depends on the samples that you have stored in those fridges for years. With the samples gone, so is your PhD. Go back to square one, and start from scratch. I guess the only good thing is that you know which key experiments to repeat. No need for repeating the 90% of experiments that failed.

Oh, even if your PhD thesis doesn’t rely on frozen samples: many living things, including bacteria and so on, require carefully controlled conditions. If the temperature deviates from the 99F required, they start becoming very unhappy, and your experiments are pretty much worthless. “T” stands for trash…

This is where chemists can rejoice. Most of the chemists use solid carbon dioxide for cooling purposes, hence no need for electricity. Sure, if you need to heat a reaction, you are out of luck. But it doesn’t mean that your experiments are ruined.

8:08PM. The sun has set 20 minutes ago, and things have turned quite dark in my apartment. The laptop’s screen is illuminating the room, and I should have power for another two hours or so. The cell phones work on and off, but it’s hard to reach anyone in Manhattan. That reminds me: better prepare a contact list of people. If you can’t call information, things get really complicated. Anyway, I am finishing my third Stella Artois - always remember to keep enough beer in the fridge…

Hhm, what other parallels can we draw between today and 9/11? For one, it seems that whenever something bad happens, New Yorkers rise to the occasion. There are reports that people have offered their apartments for other people to stay at, even spend the night. New Yorkers have remained calm throughout. No panic. I am curious to hear what my wife has to say about the situation in Manhattan. Haven’t talked to her in about 3 hours. Just like on 9/11, it’s quite possible to communicate by cell phone during the first 30 minutes after an incident.

On 9/11, Jenn called me 60 seconds after the first plane hit the WTC, and we exchanged several phone calls in the 17 minutes thereafter. After that, no cell phone calls went through. Today, pretty much the same happened. Until about 5:10, an hour after the power went out, phone conversations were possible - after that, zip.

Which shows that you should deal with all the important stuff right away. Tell your spouse what the master plan is, go through alternatives, and make decisions in case that there is no way to get through on the cell phone. In fact, it would be even better if you had a plan even in the absence of communicating. Sort of a scenario, that sets expectations, and calms everyone’s nerves.

I wonder what my parents are thinking. Probably nothing, since the power outage occurred at 4 pm, when it was around midnight in Europe. They’ll wake up tomorrow morning, start surfing the internet when they get to work, and then ask questions. Maybe, the power grid is back up by then, so that they can call and talk to me. Maybe we’re without power for quite a while. Do you go to work then? I’ll have to consult the company hotline.

Hhm, while I was still at work, I was wondering how the internet is still working. Google was up, so were most of the other sites. The traffic cameras on metrocommute.com weren’t, at least the ones in Manhattan. I didn’t check iserloh.com or skinnychef.com, but they are hosted in Pittsburgh, so they should be fine. I guess, most businesses realized that having decentralized severs with mirror sites helps.

The apartment is now pitch-black. Gotta light some candles. Hope that I don’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning. In fact, this is a quite romantic scene. Maybe there’s gonna be a lot of babies nine months down the road.

Looking out of the window, it is interesting to see Manhattan without the ubiquitous lights. Except for a few select lights in certain buildings, the city is dark. Dark, but not asleep (New York is never asleep - even without lights).

Considering that there is not much to do in this darkness - home alone - I decide to do the one reasonable thing: go to bed, and catch up on much needed sleep.

Good night America, wherever you are.