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Major power failure across Northeast

Toronto, Detroit also affected by unexplained blackout

BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC AND NBC NEWS

Aug. 14 — A major power blackout hit several major cities in the Northeast, the Midwest and Canada late Thursday afternoon, knocking out electricity to millions of people in New York, Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland and elsewhere.


THE BLACKOUT, which sent thousands of New Yorkers streaming into the streets and briefly knocked television networks off the air, could not be immediately explained. Most of the cities are linked on the same regional power grid, however.
MSNBC TV showed aerial pictures of fires in the Bronx and Brooklyn. CNN reported that a fire had been reported at the Consolidated Edison plant in New York.
The evening rush hour was just beginning, and NBC correspondents described scenes of pandemonium.

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Officials of the Homeland Security Department said they had no immediate information on the blackout, which struck cities stretching from Hartford, Conn., and Syracuse, N.Y., west to Detroit and Cleveland and north to northwest Ontario. The entire city of Toronto was affected, MSNBC television reported.
Much of New England, however, including all of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, southern Vermont and eastern Connecticut, were unaffected.
How the U.S. power system works


This is a breaking news story. Return to MSNBC.com for more details.

By MSNBC.com’s Alex Johnson

How do you have no power for lights but are still able to play SWG and browse the forums