Remembering the blackout of August 14th 2003

It was 5 years ago today when a blackout affected Northeastern and Midwestern United States, and Ontario, Canada. I was working away at a downtown Toronto office. I remember it was a very hot day, about 37oC. The men in the office kept walking over to the a/c controls to increase the air conditioning. I would ask them to leave it alone and to have some pity on those of us who were very cold. They wouldn’t listen as they were drained by the heat. I put on another layer of clothing to keep my toes and fingers from freezing and breaking off my body.

At about 3:30, one of my co-workers announced he was going home. I found it really odd that an IT guy would go home so early in the day but at least that would be one less person fiddling with the a/c. At 4:10pm my laptop monitor flickered and was suddenly running on batteries (oh yes I could tell) and all the lights were off. I got up from my seat and said “Oh great guys, see what you did? All this playing with the a/c and you caused a power outage!” I didn’t know how wrong I was until I stuck my head out the building to see if the lights were off in other buildings and if the street lights were out too. Another co-worker who had somehow left “early” came back to the office to say “The subways are down. Power is out from Niagara Falls to Ottawa.” At this point all I could think about was “I wonder what is really going on. People tend to exaggerate when they panic. I’m sure there are many out there who think this is a terror attack. I’m just happy I get to go home and I’m already used to the 30-minute walk.”

As I headed out of the office a co-worker asked to use my cell phone to call his wife. That would be the only call that would be successfully made on my mobile for almost 24 hours, since everyone turned to their cell phones to make panicked phone calls home.

As I headed home, I found people’s “reactions” priceless. Some were panicked, some took on leadership roles like directing traffic, others handed out bottles of water, while others helped out bar owners by drinking their inventory!

When I arrived at home I realized just how much I relied on electricity. Out of habit I walked over to the TV to get some background noise…whoops, that didn’t work too well. I couldn’t make myself anything to eat and so I ate crackers and chips (sooo healthy!) . I left hand written notes on my neighbour-friend’s doors that read “don’t spend the night in the dark, come hang out with me and some other neighbour-friends.” I also had to find a way to get in touch with a friend of mine who was supposed to meet me after work that day. She worked nearby but I knew my cell wasn’t working and our building buzzer system wouldn’t work either. I waited outdoors for her and did more “people watching”.

I spent the evening with friends. We went for a walk near the lake to cool off, we played cards, starred at the dark sky and were able to see many stars (odd for a normally bright city like Toronto), we drank some beverages and everyone used the “old school” phone I had to make phone calls. The “old school” phone was a phone I purchased when I was 16 years old. I had never taken it out of the moving box until that day! Unlike cordless phones, it didn’t rely on electricity to run, although it did require electricity to ring. So I couldn’t hear calls coming in but I could make calls. Somehow being a pack-rat worked out for me!

The night of August 14th 2003 was a big hit for most communities as it brought people closer together. A year later I was walking home on the same route and found a restaurant that was having a “black out anniversary party”. They shut off all the lights and lit up the restaurant with candles. Not a bad idea for business!

Last night while at my Mother’s place for what would have been my Father’s birthday, we reminisced about the blackout. My Mother suggested that we do it all again. “Everyone can sleep in the basement and we won’t use any electricity.” The adults had mixed feelings about this while my niece replied “Alright, but only if Sandra and Sandro bring their Nintendo Wii.” I think she missed the point, but can you blame her? She was only 2 during the big blackout and she’s only known the electric-age.

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Written by Sandra De Freitas

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