9. August 14th 2003 Canada and U.S. Blackout – 55 Million People Affected
At 4:10 p.m. on August 14th, 2003 power was lost to parts of the Northeast and Midwest United States and Ontario. The blackout affected 45 million people in 8 U.S. states and 10 million people in Ontario. For some, power was restored by 11 p.m. for others it was restored two days later. People in remote areas were without power for almost a week.
The power outage was found to be caused by a series of events that would normally have only caused a minor blackout, but due to a computer bug, there was a substantial malfunction. The alarm system in the control room of the First Energy Corporation experienced a software bug that prevented the alarm from alerting operators of problems in the power flow. Power lines struck trees which caused a race condition in the control software. With power not shut off on the transmission line and the issue not fixed, cascading blackouts occurred throughout the system and left millions in the dark.
The power fluctuations on the grid caused the nuclear power plants to shut down and go into “safe mode” which meant that all nuclear power went offline. Nuclear power plants can only slowly be pulled out of safe mode and therefore all hydroelectric power plants were brought online to bring power at least to the surrounding areas, but these residents were told to limit power usage until the grid could be fully restored. The power failure disrupted train lines, cell phone communication and wired telephone systems were overwhelmed with calls. Commuters in New York were left stranded and many ended up sleeping in doorways or parks when they could not find lodging. 40,000 police officers and every member of the fire department were deployed to the streets of New York to try and maintain peace and order.