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Dustin89
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Username: Dustin89

Post Number: 36
Registered: 07-2006
Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 12:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hi everyone-I've seen blackout pics here and there on the forum before and was wondering if anyone could refer me to a specific thread.

I also wanted to ask if the consensus is that this will happen again. It would be interesting to see how much the electric grid has been updated since then; I believe Manhattan had a small blackout just a few days ago.
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Lilpup
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Username: Lilpup

Post Number: 2391
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 12:23 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

only if the guy in Ohio watching the board falls asleep again
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Yupislyr
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Username: Yupislyr

Post Number: 224
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 1:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Most recent thread: https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/91697/97309.html
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Sturge
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Username: Sturge

Post Number: 37
Registered: 05-2007
Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 8:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't think any changes have been done. We're as vulnerable today as we were then.
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Jeduncan
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Username: Jeduncan

Post Number: 110
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 11:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Personally, I hope we have another blackout like that one. Sure, it was hot and relatively inconvenient, but it gave most of us no choice to do anything but relax and wait.

The blackout nights were some of the most memorable ones I've ever had.

I mean, come on. It was amazing to look up to the sky in Metro Detroit and see every star as if you were camped out somewhere in Roscommon. awesome.

Although, I may have a bit of a skewed perspective because we had 15 gallons of gasoline on reserve in the garage and a little generator running our fridge and A/C.
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Eec
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Username: Eec

Post Number: 80
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 11:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Everyone I knew called me and said, "Hey, I've got a fridge full of beer about to go bad. Come by and help me drink it."

That's how I spent the blackout.

I look forward to the next.
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Young_detroiter
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Username: Young_detroiter

Post Number: 207
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 1:05 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'll stick with the power.

During the Great Blackout of 2003, all the food went bad, our area had no water pressure for at least a day, and my neighborhood was without power from Thursday until early Sunday morning, one of the last neighborhoods to go back online with electricity. Moreover, my mother had to have emergency surgery during the blackout. They only had enough power to run the equipment, as they held flashlights on her. We were escorted around CVS/Pharmacy one by one in the dark in order to buy water and batteries. Could not drive because we had no gasoline. Could not eat. Could not bathe...etc.

Stifling record-breaking heat nearly suffocated us. The Southfield Freeway, by my house, flooded during a severe thunderstorm because the pumps were not operating. People in other areas died from house fires due to candles. Individuals throughout the region were trapped in elevators for hours, with one notable woman being there for about two days. People were trapped on rollercoasters at Cedar Point for up to an hour before they had to climb down.

The strange but true horror stories go on. So, I'll sacrifice my view of the stars for a little bit of electricity.

(Message edited by Young_Detroiter on July 04, 2007)
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Dustin89
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Username: Dustin89

Post Number: 38
Registered: 07-2006
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 1:10 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I, incredibly, had power. I live in N. Oakland County, and everyone around me lost it. Our neighborhood is usually the first to lose power, but during the Blackout I was one of the few watching the news on TV about it. It was surreal living normally w/ the AC on while virtually everyone else I knew was in the dark.
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Young_detroiter
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Username: Young_detroiter

Post Number: 208
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 1:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Dustin,

What are some of the notable things that you recalls from the news broadcasts? I didn't have a portable TV. I remember hearing something about aerial shots of Detroit and Windsor. It was reported as the tale of two cities as Downtown Detroit was in the black, with the power of Downtown Windsor being restored. One side of the lighted and one side black. Did you happen to see these images?

Something that has also changed is the following: The power was restored to the rural areas first, because the system was supposedly fragile and at risk of collapsing again. However, they now vow to restore the Central Business Districts first. The hubs of cities will be back online sooner than previously.
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Gsgeorge
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Username: Gsgeorge

Post Number: 169
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 2:13 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The Great North American Blackout of 2003 was one of the most memorable experiences in Michigan. It took me over three hours to get from 14 mile to 18 mile on Middlebelt the afternoon that the power went out. The stars were unbelievable, like we were somewhere up north. Pontiac, which normally emits a bright haze into the night sky, was pitch dark. After three days without power, my family had to move out to my aunt & uncle's house in N. Oakland County--like Dustin89, they miraculously had power.

I took one photo of the traffic jam on Middlebelt in my neighborhood the night of the blackout.

http://flickr.com/photos/gsgeo rge/25843267/
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Jerome81
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Username: Jerome81

Post Number: 1544
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 3:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was actually in Michigan for this one (unlike the 97 storm)!

I was at work at the CTC in Auburn Hills, wrapping up some e mails when it went down. We all hung around 15-20 minutes then headed home. That was when I got wind on the radio that the entire east coast had gone down, and that's when I really realized I was experiencing something historically significant.

Luckily I had filled my tank, what was it, Wednesday night, the day before the blackout. So I had plenty of gas to get from Auburn Hills to Grosse Pointe, and plenty of gas to burn driving around sometimes to cool off. I think it took me over 2 hours to get home. Not that bad actually as the freeways were jammed but because I didn't have to take many side streets, I didn't get caught up in big time gridlock. So glad I had a full tank too. I knew several people at Chrysler who ran out of gas and had to leave their cars on the side of the road that day.

The heat was TERRIBLE. I suspect it was worse elsewhere as we were staying the 2nd block up from the lake in Grosse Pointe.

We had a lot of fun. We had gasoline, we had candles, all the neighbors came and hung out and everyone shared their plentiful food. We BBQ'd. We played cards, smoked cigars, and drank beer. Sleeping sucked. So hot and no fans.

It was a fun experience, but I was done with it after a couple days. The food and beer started dwindling. And it was so ungodly hot and humid. I felt disgusting. I liked not having to go to work Friday.

I also think that while we all did very well for those few days that if things had gone another 2-3 days that some problems would have started to erupt. Most people can handle a couple days in the dark, but after about 4-5days all the stuff starts to be gone and you can't buy more. It had the potential to get ugly out there, but luckily it never did.

I could go for it again. But only a couple days, again. And preferably if it isn't so hot and humid this time.

I will say when the power came back on and the house cooled down and we got a shower, that was GREAT!
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Blueidone
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Username: Blueidone

Post Number: 98
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 8:30 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My husband and I were at my son's house having dinner with his family when the power went out. We were sure it was a terrorist attack at first! Thankfully, my son had a pool in his backyard and we spent most of the three days in there to escape the heat. The worst problem was the spoiled kids wanting to watch TV, and the littlest one not understanding why we couldn't turn it on.
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Bulletmagnet
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Username: Bulletmagnet

Post Number: 749
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 9:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We were camping in the UP and watched the whole thing on TV. It was amazing to see just how venerable we (still) are in this age of terrorism.
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Planner_727
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Username: Planner_727

Post Number: 116
Registered: 07-2006
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 9:27 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was in Lansing, MI working at the Van Wagoner bldg. The power went out and they sent us home... it was bizzare that no radio stations were working. My fiancee at the time (now wife) was at our current house in Redford and I had planned on coming here (and I had her car)... I decided to stay on the freeway instead of stopping back at my apartment in E Lansing. I clipped along on the freeway with no idea of what was going on... I got wind of the outage on some central MI radio station and started to think the situation through. I had to go back up to Lansing the next day to work and move to my new place up there and was running low on gas (not enough to go to Det and all the way back). I pulled off at the rest area before the D-19 exit and tried calling her a few times... no answer (didn't have any non-portable phones hooked up).

Unfortunately, I decided that I had to turn back, so I got off at D-19--only to find that they had power! I filled up the car with gas, got 10 bags of ice, few gallons of cold water jugs, and some $$ from the ATM and was ready to head in. By the time I got off M-5 exwy, Grand River was a ghost-town, no backups or traffic at all as everyone had already gone home.

The next day I went to the local radio shack (walgreens and cvs were closed) and found an employee holding down the fort. My forward thinking at the cash machine paid off and i picked up a cheap corded phone. Later on, I drove back up, with huge backups on I-96 full of people trying to get out to the areas in Brighton and beyond that had power and gas. I got off the freeway to take grand river around the congestion, and every gas station had lines for several blocks in the right lane. Lansing had thier power back the next morning... a long journey but a great adventure!
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Yvette248
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Username: Yvette248

Post Number: 702
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 9:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"However, they now vow to restore the Central Business Districts first. The hubs of cities will be back online sooner than previously."

Actually what they vowed was to have "critical" areas restored first. Water pumping and treatment stations, hospitals, police, etc. are usually located in central areas; that is why they will be restored first. All of the major companies were asked to stay closed during the blackout, so its not like commercial businesses will be running while residents stay in the dark.
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Upinottawa
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Username: Upinottawa

Post Number: 878
Registered: 09-2005
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 9:57 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The power kicked on in most of Windsor by 9:00 pm the first night of the blackout. I was driving out of the city (heading to Essex County) and I saw the streetlights alight behind me on Huron Church Road.

I was working at the bridge that summer, and what I remember most was the steady stream of Metro Detroiters who were coming over to Windsor to stay with friends or get a hotel room (many were just coming over to shower and have a hot meal) in order to ride out the heat wave.
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Broken_main
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Username: Broken_main

Post Number: 1227
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 1:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sturge, I agree with your post.

Because of the line of work that I am involved with, I think that we are more vulnerable now than we were with the last blackout. Working for the Water Department, I am at ease knowing that we will be up and running if another blackout occurs. We have emergency generators in place at our Plants and Booster stations and our main Sanitary stations to provide the region with an acceptable amount of pressure to avoid a boil water alert anywhere.

I know that DTE has had many trunks drop this year and sources very close to me have said that they haven't done much upgrading in their system because they felt there wasn't a need to.

It's always best for you to plan ahead, because just likethe last blackout came unexpectedly, it can happen just the same the next time(which could be very soon.

June 07 was a very dry June compared to previous ones and July could be just as bad or worse. My only words of advice are just to "BE PREPARED"
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Dustin89
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Username: Dustin89

Post Number: 40
Registered: 07-2006
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 2:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In response to Young_Detroiter, what was interesting about the broadcasts-I was watching WXYZ 7-is that there was no A/C so they were dressed more casually; the set was lit with emergency/backup lights and was kind of dim; they showed several shots of downtown, esp. Jefferson Ave., in the dark; and there was a lot of coverage when there was a report or two of looting. They were constantly reminded people w/ power to turn off lights and turn down their A/C to conserve power to make it easier to bring everyone back on. This gave me the motivation to go downstairs once in a while and turn on some more lights, and make sure the A/C was running :-)
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Digitaldom
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Username: Digitaldom

Post Number: 637
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 10:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There have been alot of changes since the blackout.. Better monitoring systems.. But DTE still has ALOT of problems.. First and for most.. we do import alot of power...

The reason why the outskirts were brough online first is bc most of them were close the power plants..

Bring up a major CBD is ALOT of power draw.. They had NEVER had to do this before.. mind you in the New York blackout.. Detroit was still online.. due to the better breaker system in place..

DTE cut back and made the breakers less reliable.. In other words LESS sensative to power fluctations..

My dad is a former plant supervisor at DTE.. he retired about 3 years ago.. There are SOO many things that went wrong..

The operators in Ohio could NOT read the reading that were coming from the grid.. NO idiot alarms.. there clustered server crashed.. It used to be a common practice to send the old guys and gals into the control room before they retired.. This is a VERY good thing.. they knew how electricity flowed.. Now you have folks that can hardly turn a computer monitoring the grid.. they have the processes in a book.. Not the hands on knowledge..

We have the same problem in the computer industry, the people monitoring our networks and computers.. are very poorly trained.. and don't know what to do when things turn red.. When it comes to the grid.. you need experience people in the control room.. simple as that..

Problem is.. they don't want to pay to have the right people in place..

Hopefully the water Dept got there shit together as far as having actual backup generators in place.. and not dual ties in place...

Many things when wrong during that day.. Because it was the one scenario people were not expecting.. DTE expects and knows how to handle a local outage.. But when backup power dies.. and the reactors scram.. there screwed..

For those of you that don't know.. Power plants need external power to operate (depending on the plant) They need it for all the cooling, Coal handling, computers.. etc to keep the plant running.. A nuclear plant is even worse..

They need onsite power to start up.. it's not like turning a key and the shit just working.. it's a complex system.. EXTREMELY complex..

DTE only has a few cold start plants as they call them.. Ones that do not need external power to start up the power generation.. Those plants were online first.. they started feeding the local grid.. then they started to turn on the breakers slowly..

Plants can adjust there power to come extent.. but you can fail a plant by not putting out enough.. or if there is too much draw in the system..
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Tammypio
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Username: Tammypio

Post Number: 136
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 11:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was setting up my classroom in Detroit for the start of the new school year when the power went out. My son, 7 at the time and fascinated with power outages, said, "Mom, is the power out at our house too?" Since we were living in Flat Rock at the time, I answered.."No, there's no chance that the power is out there too!".
When I got in my car and heard the news that INDEED, the power was out all over the place, I started to panic since I was hearing there was no power, no water...and of course, everyone was worrying it was another terrorist attack.
My son and I made it downriver and stopped at a gas station to buy what ended up being the last 2 gallons of water, some milk and some ice. Got home and realized we did have water (what a relief!). My husband brought home bags of ice from the restaurant he worked at so we were able to fill up two coolers with our perishables.
We didn't sleep much that night..did anybody?..since it was so hot. Kept listening to a battery powered radio and a small battery operated tv to hear what was going on.
I heard that Toledo had power and was planning on going down there to get some gas and more ice and water when our power came on around 11 a.m. the next morning.
I hope it never happens again...I felt so cut off from the rest of my family who live in the northern suburbs and my mom in Hamtramck. Not being able to buy gasoline was very scarey as was not being able to get money out of the ATMS.
It's a shame that we live this way, but I realize I am quite dependent on electricity!

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