Operating Without Power, 1965
Photograph by Ted Russell, Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Doctors
use temporary lighting to perform brain surgery at St. Vincent's
Hospital in New York City during the great blackout of 1965. More than
30 million people in parts of Canada and several Northeastern U.S.
states were left without power for up to 13 hours on November 9, 1965,
after the lights went dark during the evening rush hour. A faulty or
improperly set safety relay at an Ontario power station was blamed for
sparking a southbound power surge that overwhelmed systems from Vermont
to New Jersey. Human operators were also faulted for responses that
failed to contain the crisis.
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