Northeast Blackout of 2003 - Restoration of Service

Restoration of Service

By evening of August 14, power had been restored to:

• Many areas of the Niagara Region in Ontario;
• Areas of the Ontario Golden Horseshoe from St. Catharines to Burlington (supplied from the City of Niagara Falls Ontario, which never lost power);
• Parts of Southwestern Ontario, particularly areas near the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant, lost power for only 4–8 hours;
• parts of Mississauga;
• parts of London, Ontario;
• portions of western Ottawa including Kanata and south to Kingston;
• portions of downtown Toronto;
• Cornwall and Pembroke, Ontario;
• three-quarters of the millions of customers who had lost power in New Jersey;
• parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan;
• parts of Long Island;
• Albany and its surroundings;
• New London County, Connecticut;
• Parry Sound, Ontario

Con Edison retracted its claim that New York City would have power by 1 a.m. That night some areas of Manhattan regained power at approximately 5 a.m. (August 15), the New York City borough of Staten Island regained power around 3 a.m. on August 15, and Niagara Mohawk predicted that the Niagara Falls area would have to wait until 8 a.m.

By early evening of August 15, two airports, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, and Toronto Pearson International Airport were back in service.

Half of the affected part of Ontario had power by the morning of 15 August, though even in areas where it had come back online, some services were still disrupted or running at lower levels. The last areas to regain power were usually suffering from trouble at local electrical substations that was not directly related to the blackout itself.

By 16 August, power was fully restored in New York and Toronto. However, Toronto's subway and streetcars remained out of service until 18 August to prevent the possibility of equipment being stuck in awkward locations if the power was interrupted again. Power had been mostly restored in Ottawa, though authorities warned of possible additional disruptions and advised conservation as power continued to be restored to other areas. Ontarians were asked to reduce their electricity use by 50% until all generating stations could be brought back on line. Four remained out of service on the 19th. Illuminated billboards were largely dormant for the week following the blackout, and many stores had only a portion of their lights on.

Preparations against the possible disruptions threatened by the Year 2000 problem have been credited for the installation of new electrical equipment and systems which allowed for a relatively rapid restoration of power in some areas.