At dusk on this day in 1965, a power failure plunged all of New York state into darkness, as well as portions of seven nearby states, and parts of eastern Canada. The Great Northeast Blackout began at the height of rush hour, delaying millions of commuters, trapping 800,000 people in New York’s subways, and stranding thousands more in office buildings, elevators, and trains. Ten thousand National Guardsmen and 5,000 off-duty policemen were called into service. All together, 30 million people wer

16 YEARS AGO: The Great Northeast Blackout of 2003 happened on August 14, leaving millions of people without power from Ohio to New Jersey up to Connecticut. | 13 WHAM ABC