Buzz
On July 13, 1977, New York City faced a massive blackout that pushed its citizens to their limits. A struggling economy, fear of the notorious Son of Sam serial killer, and an unbearably hot summer night led to widespread looting. Despite the chaos, it's said that the theft of DJ gear from electronics stores helped fuel the rise of DJ culture and hip-hop music in the city. Yet, this wasn't the first time the city had been plunged into darkness.
Fifty years ago, The Great Northeast Blackout left around 30 million people in the U.S. and Canada without power, marking it as the largest blackout in U.S. history at the time. To commemorate its 50th anniversary, here are 12 of the most notable power failures worldwide.
1. NORTHEAST UNITED STATES AND NORTHERN CANADA // NOVEMBER 9, 1965
A malfunctioning relay at Sir Adam Beck Station near Niagara Falls, Ontario, triggered what was then the largest blackout in U.S. history. At 5:16 p.m., the failure of a 230-kilovolt transmission line set off a chain reaction, causing a power surge that overwhelmed the grid and plunged New York City into darkness during Tuesday rush hour. Approximately 800,000 commuters were stranded in the subway system.
Beyond New York, power surges and automatic shutdowns impacted 30 million people across New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Quebec, and Ontario. To maintain order, 10,000 National Guardsmen and 5,000 off-duty police officers were deployed, though the situation remained largely calm. Most areas had their power restored within 13 hours.
2. THAILAND NATIONWIDE BLACKOUT // MARCH 18, 1978
The failure of generators at the South Pranakhorn Powerplant in Samut Prakan caused a nationwide blackout in Thailand. It took authorities over nine hours to restore electricity. In May 2013, Thailand experienced another significant power outage, reigniting memories of the 1978 disaster.
3. CANADA'S GEOMAGNETIC STORM // MARCH 13, 1989
On March 13, 1989, Quebec, Canada, experienced a 12-hour province-wide blackout caused by an unexpected source: the sun.
Occasionally, the sun releases massive clouds of ionized gas called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). On March 10, 1989, a CME "roughly 36 times the size of Earth" and carrying "the energy equivalent to thousands of nuclear explosions"
This astronomical phenomenon caused Quebec's power grid to fail, leaving six million residents without electricity for 12 hours. Schools, businesses, the Montreal Metro, and Dorval Airport were all forced to shut down during the outage.
4. SOUTHERN BRAZIL // MARCH 11, 1999
In 1999, a massive blackout affected around 97 million of Brazil's 160 million residents, marking it as the largest power outage at the time. The incident began when lightning struck an electricity substation, causing the shutdown of Itaipu, the world's largest power plant.
To prevent looting, 1,200 military police officers were deployed in Rio, while tunnels in São Paulo were closed to curb potential assaults. The blackout severely disrupted 60,000 subway commuters. Complicating matters further, Brazil's power system had been privatized just days before the incident. Mines and Energy Minister Rodolpho Tourinho dismissed any connection, stating, "A lightning strike is an extraordinary event, and there's no reason to question the reliability of Brazil's electrical system."
5. INDIA // JANUARY 2, 2001
A 12-hour blackout, caused by a substation failure in Uttar Pradesh, led to the collapse of India's northern grid. Approximately 226 million people, a quarter of the nation's population, were affected. The Confederation of Indian Industry estimated business losses at around $107.1 million.
Despite India's economic growth, the blackout fueled calls for privatizing the electrical sector to modernize it. Enron was reportedly approached to supply power during the crisis but demanded rates three times higher than normal.
6. NORTHEAST UNITED STATES AND CANADA // AUGUST 14-15, 2003
The true cause of the 2003 Northeast Blackout was uncovered months later. Initially, Canadian Defense Minister John McCallum pointed to a Pennsylvania nuclear plant outage, which state officials denied. The actual trigger was a high-voltage power line in Northern Ohio making contact with overgrown trees, leading to its shutdown. The alarm system meant to alert FirstEnergy Corporation malfunctioned, and the issue was overlooked. Over the next 90 minutes, operators struggled to identify the problem as three additional lines failed due to the initial disruption.
This triggered a chain reaction, and by 4:05 p.m., Southeast Canada and eight Northeastern U.S. states were plunged into darkness. The blackout, lasting up to two days, affected 50 million people, becoming the largest in North American history. It resulted in 11 deaths and an estimated $6 billion in damages. The event led to the formation of a U.S.-Canada task force to prevent future outages.
7. ITALY // SEPTEMBER 28, 2003
Italy's 2003 blackout impacted nearly all of its 57 million residents. While nighttime outages often go unnoticed, this one struck during the early morning hours following Rome's Nuit Blanche, an all-night arts festival. At 3:01 a.m., a fault in Switzerland's power system overloaded two lines near the Italian border, leaving 110 trains and over 30,000 passengers stranded.
8. JAVA AND BALI, INDONESIA // AUGUST 18, 2005
At 10:23 a.m. on a Thursday, a failure in a 500-kilovolt transmission line connecting Cilegon and Saguling in West Java caused a massive 5,000-megawatt shutdown. Jakarta, the capital of the world's fourth most populous nation, was left in the dark, along with half of Indonesia's population—100 million people—who endured nearly 11 hours without electricity.
The blackout wasn't entirely unexpected. The state power company had been grappling with meeting electricity demand since the 1997 monetary crisis. A year earlier, the government had convened a special energy summit to address the need for expanding the country's power capacity.
9. GERMANY, FRANCE, ITALY, AND SPAIN // NOVEMBER 4, 2006
A German power company's decision to shut down a high-voltage line over the River Ems to allow a cruise ship to pass led to power outages affecting 10-15 million Europeans. The company attributed the issue to an overload in northwestern Germany's network, possibly triggered by the manual shutdown (though similar actions in the past had not caused problems). The blackout halted trains in Germany and trapped numerous people in elevators across France and Italy, with Austria, Belgium, and Spain also impacted.
10. CHENZHOU, CHINA // JANUARY 24 - FEBRUARY 2008
Winter storms caused a nearly two-week power outage for 4.6 million people in and around Chenzhou, central China. Many residents faced the added frustration of being without electricity during Chinese New Year festivities. Some locals reported walking a kilometer in freezing temperatures to fetch water from wells. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, 11 electricians lost their lives while repairing the grid, and the storm's overall death toll surpassed 60.
11. BRAZIL AND PARAGUAY // NOVEMBER 10-11, 2009
The sudden halt of the Itaipu hydroelectric dam, which stopped generating 17,000 megawatts of power, led to widespread blackouts across Brazil and Paraguay. The timing raised suspicions, as it occurred just two days after 60 Minutes reported that previous Brazilian outages were caused by hackers. Although the CBS program later suggested the 2009 incident was also a cyberattack, a Wikileaks document ultimately disputed this claim.
To prevent hacking, a voice command system was implemented to disrupt the power grid, with access limited to a select group of authorized operators. Any internal sabotage would have been fatal to the perpetrator, and investigators would have discovered "physical evidence, including the saboteur's body," if foul play had been involved in the 2009 incident.
12. INDIA // JULY 30-31, 2012
The July 31st blackout in India marked the largest power outage in history, impacting approximately 670 million people—nearly 9% of the global population. On that day, three interconnected northern power grids failed for several hours, disrupting 22 states stretching from India's eastern border with Myanmar to its western border with Pakistan.
Delhi residents endured 89% humidity, while in West Bengal, hundreds of miners were stranded underground for hours due to malfunctioning lifts. In a particularly grim detail, The Guardian reported that electric crematoriums ceased functioning, leaving some bodies partially cremated until wood was used to reignite the furnaces. Overloading and human error were ultimately identified as the causes.
This post originally appeared in 2014.
