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Power failure leaves much of northeast blacked out 14 years ago today

Posted at 3:21 PM, Aug 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-14 15:21:19-04

On the night of Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003, a power failure left much of the northeast and parts of the midwest in complete darkness in what is now known as the northeast blackout of 2003.

Around 4 p.m., 21 different power stations across the region shut down and left about 50 million people in the dark from Detroit to New York City and even into Canada.

Some people had power restored in just hours, but according to NASA, others were out of power for at least a day.

Images from NASA show light from 20 hours before the blackout and seven hours after the blackout.

The lights in Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Toronto and even Ottawa are either gone or very much reduced, and Long Island, N.Y. was also hit pretty hard.

Other areas, like Boston for instance, were not affected.