On August 14, 2003, a series of faults caused by tree branches touching power lines in Ohio, which were then complicated by human error, software issues, and equipment failures, led to the most widespread blackout in North American history. More than 50 million people across eight northeastern U.S. states and parts of Canada were left without power for at least 24 hours, and many of them were in the dark for weeks. In New York City, thousands of commuters were stranded when the power cut out late on a Thursday afternoon. Memories of the 9/11 attacks only two years earlier were fresh in people’s minds as scenes of thousands of people evacuating Manhattan on foot were replayed.
Photos: 15 Years Since the 2003 Northeast Blackout
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Improvising in the blackout, the college student Shmuel Aziza powers his laptop computer off of a car battery beside Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, on August 15, 2003, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. #
Kathy Willens / AP -
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Several hundred people wait for buses in New York on August 15, 2003. Most train service was knocked out after the power outage, and the commuters shown here, many of whom spent the night in the city, were boarding buses that would take them to a connection with a diesel-powered train outside the city. #
Peter Morgan / Reuters
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