new_york_blackout

Tomas Andreda, left, of Queens, and Nancy Acosta, center, make phone calls to family from a bank of pay phones as lines form behind after a power blackout in New York City, Aug. 14, 2003.

A New York City police officer directs traffic through Times Square during a power outage in New York Aug. 14, 2003. A massive power blackout hit U.S. and Canadian cities Thursday, closing nuclear power plants in Ohio and New York state, driving workers in New York City and Toronto into the streets, and shutting subways in blistering heat.

Stranded with no trains running out of the city, Roz Doherty of Clearwater, Fla. tries in vain with two cellular phones to call her daughter while standing outside Grand Central Terminal Aug. 14, 2003.

A Rochester Fire Department crew helps wheelchair-bound Kathy Staso of Rochester, N.Y., down from the third floor of the Bausch and Lomb Library in Rochester after the power went out Aug. 14, 2003.

Pedestrians and vehicles cross New York's Brooklyn Bridge after the massive power outage Aug. 14, 2003.

Commuters and travelers flow out of the darkened hallways toward the main waiting area inside Grand Central Terminal in New York City, after a massive power outage Aug. 14, 2003, that hit U.S. and Canadian cities. The outage disrupted cell phone service in New York, the subway system, and trains going in and out.

A police officer helps people negotiate subway tracks and return to the Shea Stadium Willets Point subway station, after they were evacuated from a Number 7 subway train stuck on the tracks because of a massive power failure that hit the Northeast region of the United States, Aug. 14, 2003.

Cars try to navigate their way through New York City during a blackout that hit steamy U.S. and Canadian cities Aug. 14, 2003, stranding people in subways, closing nine nuclear power plants from New York to Michigan and choking streets with workers driven from stifling offices.

People try to board the back of a crowded Manhattan bus during the power outtage in New York Aug. 14, 2003. Buses were packed to capacity after the subway lines closed down during the outage.

Crowds line up for buses at Port Authority bus terminal in New York during the power outage Aug. 14, 2003.

Patrons crowd a Mr. Softee ice cream truck to buy ice cream as darkness envelopes Weehawken, N.J. Aug. 14, 2003.

A view of the Upper West side of Manhattan is seen from a Weehawken, N.J., park Aug. 14, 2003.

People with no place to go after they were not allowed into their hotel rooms, the Marriott Marquis in New York's Times Square, sleep on the sidewalk outside the hotel early morning Aug. 15, 2003, following a massive power outage that darkened the city.

A news vendor works by candlelight in New York's Times Square shortly after midnight Aug. 15, 2003.

Commuters sleep on the steps of the Post Office on 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue in New York during the early hours of Aug. 15, 2003 after being stranded following the city's electrical blackout.

Taxi moves down Broadway at dawn during power outage, New York City, Aug. 15, 2003.

The sun rises over the skyline of the Upper West side of Manhattan as seen from Weehawken, N.J. Aug. 15, 2003.

A line forms in front of a vendor selling bread at the Union Square Farmers Market during the early morning hours of Aug. 15, 2003, in the Manhattan borough of New York. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said power had been restored by Friday morning to sections of all five boroughs, including all of Staten Island.

Lucy Ares of New York examines a box of breakfast cereal Aug. 15, 2003 as she shops by flashlight in a downtown Manhattan supermarket.

A passenger rests aboard a 9:50 a.m. Metro-North train to Brewster as it prepares to leave Grand Central Terminal in New York as service is gradually restored following a night without electricity Aug. 15, 2003.