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by dennisk from DETROIT

Last Post 77 days, 1 hour Ago


Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?
Aug 14, 2008 | 11:22 AM
Category: News
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Five years ago today (August 14th) the worst blackout in North American history turned out the lights on 50 million people.

The blackout effected people from New York to Michigan to Canada.

Where were you when the power went out?

Share your story in this blog.

I for one was working at Fox 2 when the outage happened. At the time I was planning segments for the Weekend Morning Show. My office was separate from the news room, and my area only lost power for a brief moment. The back-up system apparently powered my area first, so I didn't realize that the black out happened until I saw people running past my office. I got up to see what was going on and the hallway was dark.

I headed to the news room where chaos ensued. Then as my colleagues so often do, the producers, reporters, engineers and our whole company came together to find a way to broadcast the news. There were some areas of our viewing area that had power, plus other satellite and broadcast mediums that allowed people to view our newscast.

The show had to go on., but our broadcast tower and studio were out of commission, not to mention all of our computers.

Someone had the bright idea to power up a live truck in the parking lot and microwave a signal to be picked up for broadcast.

Our anchors did a marvelous job of ad libbing what they knew. The producers, myself included, did everything we could to get information about what was happening. This included making cell phone calls, which was difficult, tying into our affiliates not affected by the black out and some limited access to the internet. We sent reporters into the streets to find out what was happening.

Our printers and tele-prompters were down, so we updated copy the old fashioned way, using a manual type writer or simply hand writing scripts.

I am proud of the job my colleagues performed that day. I will never forget it.



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Member Comments Total Comments: 10
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former_detroiter read my blog view my photos
Aug 14, 2008 | 12:36 PM

I was at home and thought it was just a local problem at first. Maybe a car hit a light pole and wires or something. Has happened before. When I ran to the store is when I saw it might be more widespread. Signal lights were out everywhere. I ended up sitting in the car listening to the radio and found out. We also found out the hard way we were not prepared at all. Gas was sold out every where and our vehicles were below half a tank. Day before payday and the frig was a bit empty without any backup supplies. Emergency lighting? Nope. Only the Bar B Q to cook on. No manual can opener to be found!!!!!! ARGHHHHHHHH! lol Quite a wake up call for us.
Mike_Reed read my blog
Aug 14, 2008 | 12:38 PM

I was on the 7th at Rattle Run in St. Clair. It was a beautiful day. I shot well, took the back roads home. Read a book and slept in the basement.

It was wonderful.
sylviahubbard1 read my blog view my photos
Aug 14, 2008 | 2:26 PM

i was working for the detroit police department as a telephone crime reporter.

i was able to make it home and my kids were dropped off later on by my father.

we happened to have an old black and white portable tv which, after going to the dollar store that stayed open for people to get necessities we were able to get batteries and extra water. we set it out on the porch so others in the neighborhood could come and be updated about what was going on.

weirdly, my kids were calm about the whole matter. we kept the freezer closed and I was able to clean our the refrigerator. since we had a gas stove, i fried some chicken up and we ate left over spaghetti.

the next day, i reported to work (we were up and running on 2 generators to continue to take calls from worried citizens) and ended up working a double shift. my father picked up my kids and took them with him and i kept my television with me to keep up with the events.

i realized i depended heavily on my cell phone because i was lost without but i survived without going crazy and it was a blessing how things worked out for me and my kids.

As a single mother and my middle name being Murphy's Law, that's saying a lot - trust me.

when my son came home, he said, Momma that was fun. Can we do it again?
tinabina
Aug 14, 2008 | 2:48 PM

I was on my way to the store when the blackout happened. I had taken the day off work to take the kids to the doctor's in the morning. We spent the evening cooking out at the neighbor's house (all of us cleaned out our refrigerators and freezers), and we had a big party over there! Spent the night trying to sleep, and made sure that the senior couple across the street was okay. Since we lived near the airport, we were one of the first to get our power back!!!!
JennyPia45 read my blog
Aug 14, 2008 | 3:53 PM

Home, when I got into the car and started listening to the radio and found out it was multiple states and Canada. I thought it was another terrorist attack. I ran to the nearest store for water. People seemed panicked and confused, just starting grabbing anything they could grab off the shelves.
Samantha2333
Aug 14, 2008 | 5:26 PM

I was preparing for my daughters outside wedding. We moved the wedding at the only place that had electricity, The Marriott in Ypsilanti. She is known as "The Black Out Bride. Many dear friends made the event a success.
isthatright read my blog
Aug 14, 2008 | 9:42 PM

I was at 12 mi. and Telegraph. That intersection is bad when the traffic light are working. It took me an hour to go 8 miles.
shockhazard read my blog view my photos
Aug 14, 2008 | 11:27 PM

I was checking out an electrical job at someones house , At the very moment I hit the light switch in her dinning room , The lights went out in the whole house , as well as the A/C going down . She asked me , " How in the hell did you do that ? " I told her , " I didn't do anything but hit this switch . " I told her we better go outdside and check with the neigbors to see if their power went out , and , sure enough , they were down too . I thought it was just a local problem at the time , but , found out on the way home that it was a major problem .
sarge-m read my blog
Aug 17, 2008 | 6:38 AM

I was starting my shift at 4:30 when it happend. I thought it was local also. I only had a quarter tank of gas and a 1 hour drive home which turned into 3 hours because no lights where working. I was worried about making it because I couldn't get gas. When I got close to home, we had power and I got gas. I will never leave myself so short on gas again. I immediately grabbed 4 gas cans and went back to the gas station and filled them up. Just in case I needed them for my generator. Glad I did, because when I went out the following morning, there was a 2 mile long line of people waiting to get gas!

It was a great weekend for me. 4 days off. I know alot of people where suffering in the heat and I felt sorry for them, but I enjoyed myself.

The local campgrounds where packed full of people from the city since we had power.
sarge-m read my blog
Aug 17, 2008 | 6:43 AM

By the way, I did listen to the radio on the way home and did get some information, but I didn't know the scope and size of it all until I got home and watched Fox 2 coverage on it. Great job guys.
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