INDEPTH: POWER OUTAGE
Introduction
CBC News Online | August 20, 2003
Updated November 19, 2003
At 4:11 p.m. ET on Aug. 14, 2003, Ontario and much of the northeastern U.S. were hit by the largest blackout in North America's history. Electricity was cut to 50 million people, bringing darkness to customers from New York to Toronto to North Bay.
Streetlights went out, subway trains stopped mid-tunnel and refrigeration equipment went dead. And while some electricity consumers had service restored by early the next morning, many areas remained in darkness well into the next day and even the one following.
The cause of the blackout, according to Canada-U.S. joint task force, can be traced back to FirstEnergy Corp. of Ohio. Chaired by Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal and U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, the task force tabled its findings in Washington on November 19, 2003.
They say FirstEnergy's EastLake plant shut down unexpectedly on August 14, 2003, triggering a series of problems on its transmission line that triggered a cascade effect that caused the cross-border blackout.
Dhaliwal said this should be a wakeup call for utilities to upgrade their equipment.
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