20 years later, New Yorkers recall the blackout: 'We were more than a little rattled'

New York City suddenly plunged into darkness at 4:10 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2003.

Across eight northeast states and Ontario, Canada, 50 million people went into total darkness for about 30 hours. The cause was a tree branch contacting power lines in Ohio. That triggered a cascading series of failures that caused the overload of electrical systems across the region. The blackout remains one of the most significant power outages in United States history.

Gothamist spoke to residents about their memories of that day.

Summers Scholl, 46, of Queens, was at an office job she’d just started.

“I was also between apartments at the time and with conflicting instructions on whether to go home or stay put I decided to sleep on a filing cabinet that night alone with a few stranded colleagues.” Scholl sang songs with her new colleagues, raided a coworker's snack drawer and went stargazing on the roof of the Midtown office building.

“I was at that job for 14 years, maybe due to how bonding that experience was.”

Matthew Corey, 44, of Ridgewood, fled his job running background checks for a bank – and came upon a block party in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

“Me and this other girl were relatively new to [the job] and we sat outside of the group. On that day I remember our computer screen just started swiveling and then they just sort of went blank all together and shortly after that the lights went out all together.”

Employees were told to stay put for the time being. He recalled thinking that was probably what people at the World Trade Center were told when the first plane hit.

“So I looked at the girl next to me and she was looking back at me…we just kind of nodded at each other and then bolted for the elevators and we left and wished each other luck.”

He made it to Williamsburg, where people had set up chairs in the street and were giving away snacks.

“A bar close by just wanted to get rid of everything they had since there was no fridge. So me and my friend's girlfriend waited in line to get a few beers.”

A woman approached them, apparently needing to vent about what she had just endured: being stuck on a subway for hours in the dark.

“[She said] they had to walk beside [the subway car] in the tunnel, with rats crawling occasionally over their feet and stepping through water and trash and whatnot. Eventually her and everyone else got to the platform and left the station and she walked a few blocks in complete shock until basically she got to us and we were the first people she was talking to.”

She thanked him for listening, and continued on her way.

Jennifer Bainbridge, 55, of Westchester County, had just brought her newborn baby home from the hospital.

“We were home not more than an hour before the blackout hit, which freaked us out as brand new parents. We were more than a little rattled but we just kept saying to each other, ‘it could be worse, we could be stuck on the subway.’”

Leslie Hart, 47, from Ocean Hill, Brooklyn said the Sept. 11 attacks were still fresh in her mind.

“When I got to my apartment, I opened my room door and my AC immediately shut off. I used my cellphone to call my mother in Middletown.” Her electricity was also out. “Oh my God, I immediately thought that it was another terrorist attack on New York City. That whole evening, I went back and forth between my car, which is a tiny Chevy Cavalier, just to use the AC for some relief.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the date of the blackout.