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The 2003 blackout: 5 years ago this afternoon
Photo credit: Urbanite
A couple hugs as pedestrians react to the power outage in Times Square.
The famous electronic displays went down with the rest of the city's power
grid. (AP Photo / August 14, 2003)
About 4:14 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2003, my E train had (thankfully) just pulled into the 23rd Street-Ely station in Queens when it came to an abrupt halt. The lights went out. As our conductor awaited word "from supervision," I disembarked and, guided with the light of my cell phone, made it up to the base of the Citigroup building. And to my shock, there were hundreds of people milling about, with many looking west at the skyline and speculating that al-Qaida had struck again. For me, a two-hour walk to Kew Gardens awaited to reach Newsday's Queens office, where a long night of battery-powered light awaited.
Where were you when the 2003 blackout happened? How did you cope? Let us know in the comments. Click here to read David Freedlander's cover piece on the anniversary, and whether we are any safer than we were five years ago. Check out our photo gallery here.
-- Rolando Pujol
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