posted 08-15-2003 09:33 AM               

We were OK here in the Philadelphia area. Our Blackout came on Wednesday 8/13, knocking out most of Center City. I'm hearing plenty of computer horror stories. Monday morning in New York is going to be a lot fun I bet!

posted 08-15-2003 11:57 AM               

It wasn't that bad. It actually turned out to be a great evening. We have friends over....BBQ and then dinner by candlelight outside in the Gazebo.....then a campfire in my back yard....beautiful black sky with star gazing...almost a Full Moon and Mars

Making the most out of the day.Parts of Sudbury Ontario are still without power ,but it is 31 C and a sunny day.

Take Care

posted 08-16-2003 11:53 AM               

I was out from 4:10pm Thursday until 7pm Friday. And the internet did not work until this morning.

I wish we would have blackouts more often :-) To get a glimpse of the milkyway from New York was quite an experience.

------------------
-Ben

posted 08-16-2003 05:39 PM               

Locally here, I happened to be off work. I work at the Maid of the Mist, as supervisor of the Prospect Point observation tower and US Dock, both of which lost power. Everybody jokes that all the excitement happens when I'm on, which makes me the one having to deal with whatever happens---seizures, heart attacks, suicide reports, stubbed toes, nausea, kids throwing rocks at $3000 panels of glass, etc. I am there for 50% of all operating hours, but about 95% percent of these events happen when I’m on---I can’t figure it out! Well, this time I was finally off. The observation tower & elevators, recently upgraded, lost power but luckily we have an emergency generator, which kicks on instantaneously to an outage, and allows us to run one of the four elevators. At the time of the power outage there were a couple hundred tourists at river level who had to be brought to the top of the gorge, which took no more than 30 minutes. This operation ran very smoothly due to the new system we have. If it happened two years ago, before the new elevators and generator, the only way up the gorge is to climb 325 stairs (325 feels like 10,000). Evacuations have been done on rare occasions in the past, but today, luckily, we can rely on our new system of relief power. Upriver a few hundred meters (I use meters here instead of yards for our world-wide viewers!) at the Cave of the Winds, another base-of-the-falls tour, the fire department & parks police had to evacuate all from downstairs the old fashioned way---climbing up an old stairway. There were a few who couldn’t make the climb, and had to be carried up the stairs seated in a rescue chair! This was on the evening news, and I was glad to be an off-duty employee of the Maid of the Mist instead of an on-duty Cave of the Winds employee!!

The Maid closed yesterday and today as well due to the fact that the NYS Power Authority is drawing more water to make up for the lost power and to try to re-supply those affected throughout the northeast. By drawing 75% of the upper river’s water, the lower river below the falls drops approximately 10 feet, affecting our operations. We may be back in service tomorrow----we’ll see what the morning brings!