25-09 - Flipbook - Page 59
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along subway tunnels to get out. Hundreds more were trapped in lifts when the electricity
stopped flowing 3 or, in the case of the Empire State Building, at the top of the tallest building in the city. Cash machines stopped operating. Areas which used electric pumps
stopped receiving water. Refrigerated food and drink in shops and restaurants rapidly perished in the summer heat.
As air conditioning stopped working, many people headed outside to escape the soaring
heat and New York's streets quickly filled up. Due to the stalled mobile phone networks and
defunct televisions, the city's residents struggled to understand what was going on. As it had
been just under two years since the 11 September 2001 attacks, some New Yorkers initially
feared that the blackout could be terror-related. "There was some talk of a terror thing
again," Glenn Schuck, a New York radio reporter, told the American Red Cross Podcast in
2021. "Was this someone else taking out an electric grid so they can come in and attack us
in the night? Believe me, there were thoughts about that, a lot."
After the attacks of 11 September, this has become a battle-hardened city – Nick Bryant
Stranded commuters on the street crowded around battery-powered radios to listen to rolling news updates and to try to work out how to get home. Some managed to pack
onboard the overcrowded buses, although with the traffic lights not working and the city's
roads gridlocked, it could take up to four hours just to get out of Manhattan. Others, despite
the heat, resorted to trudging home on foot, leading to surreal scenes of thousands of people walking across New York's bridges.
As darkness fell, those unable to make it home faced the unappealing prospect of spending the humid night sleeping rough on the city's sidewalks or in the parks. "Thousands of
stranded commuters were forced to join the ranks of the city's homeless," reported Bryant.
"Whether rich or poor, it was the longest of nights."
A series of fires broke out around the city. In an effort to see in the dark, many New Yorkers
had lit candles indoors, and curtains and furniture accidentally caught fire. "I just remember
it turning into this nightmare situation where it was non-stop," Sharon Hawa, who worked for
the American Red Cross at the time, told the organisation's podcast in 2021. "It was like a
wildfire happening in the city."
Fewer arrests than usual
Fire crews were called out to more than 60 residential fires that night, with two deaths attributed to the use of fire to provide light. "The borough of Brooklyn alone had 25 working
fires in a 24-hour period," said New York Fire Chief Thomas Richardson. "That's a lot for one
borough. Typically, in the city we get between a dozen and 20 fires citywide for a 24-hour
period."
It was far from the first blackout the Big Apple had suffered. In 1977, there was a massive
power outage when lightning struck key transmission lines. That time there had been widespread looting and rioting, leading to some 3,800 arrests and more than 1000 fires. But the
