Service Interruptions
Friday, August 15, 2003
We just had a brief interruption of cable modem service and I tried to use the dialup line but got a message that all circuits are busy.
UPDATE: There's blackout blogging at The Command Post with better news updates than the big news sites.
They report
The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has been asked to dump 46,000 megawatts of power - meaning approximately 45,000 homes who had electricity stored will go without once more, as rolling blackouts go into effect.
UPDATE (11:10AM): Teatown (in Ossining) just called to say that they'd lost power again and because their water and toilets are on a pump system, they have to cancel afternoon camp. Peter is sad.
UPDATE: Christine Quiones on her commute home during the blackout.
UPDATE: The NYT has a front page sidebar with blackout info. Here's the one I've been looking for:
Commuter rail service is not operating within New York City. There is limited service within New York's suburbs and New Jersey.
It would seem that David will not be home for a while longer.
HE DIDN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION: This exchange comes from the Bush blackout press conference as posted on whitehouse.gov:
Q Mr. President, does this suggest that even with all the attention paid to homeland security that the electrical grid is still vulnerable, should it have been a terrorist attack?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think, you know, one of the things we'll have to do, of course, is take an assessment of why the cascade was so significant, why it was able to ripple so significantly throughout our system up east. And that will be a very important part of the investigation once we deal with the immediate -- and the immediate, of course, is to take care of people.
You know, for example, in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg has ordered out thousands of police officers on the street to help bring calm; fire fighters are working overtime; emergency crews are out working well. My focus is to work with state and local authorities to help deal with the immediate problem. Of course, we'll have time to look at it and determine whether or not our grid needs to be modernized. I happen to think it does, and have said so all along. But this will be -- this is going to be an interesting lesson for our country, and we'll have to respond to it.
A NINE-SECOND EVENT: From CNN:
PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Investigators on Friday seeking the cause of the power outage that crippled parts of the U.S. Midwest, Northeast and southern Canada are looking for what was essentially "a nine-second event" along what's known as the Lake Erie Loop.
DAVID'S HOME: I picked David up at the Tarrytown train station at about 3. He's home.