World News 15-08-2003 50 Million Americans Without Electricity who: Mayor Michael Bloomberg what: Asks non-essential workers to stay at home as electricity is slowly restored where: NEW YORK when: Today snippet: "A string of cities across north-east America and Canada were plunged into chaos after a series of unexpected electricity blackouts," says The Independent. "More than 50 million people were affected when power supplies were cut shortly after 4pm (9pm BST) in New York, Detroit, Chicago Cleveland, Ottawa and Toronto." People leaving work in New York "were met by signs saying that buses, trains and subways were out of order," says The Mirror. "Traffic lights were also knocked out. Thousands were trapped on underground trains. Flights into six airports were halted. Twenty-one power plants automatically shut down, including nine nuclear sites." "I headed for the Williamsburg Bridge, one of the main arteries into Manhattan from Brooklyn, with a pleasant walkway for pedestrians over the busy roadway," says the BBC`s New York correspondent, Matt Wells. "What we saw on the bridge was a shocking sight - a vast exodus of people as far as the eye could see, trying to make it home from their workplaces, trudging past paralysed subway trains." "The Canadian prime minister, Jean Chrétien, said early today that the power cuts were caused by a lightning strike at a power station on the US side of Niagara," says The Guardian. New York`s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, told civilians to remain calm and advised them that power would probably be restored on Friday. [... more]

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