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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Northeast Struggling to Resume Normalcy as Blackout Lingers
Aired August 15, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I am Wolf Blitzer, reporting tonight live from New York City. A dark time in parts of North America. Into the Dark Ages. Today, millions of Americans are struggling for a normal life.
WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
The largest blackout in U.S. history. A day later, millions of people still without power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just because your power has been restored doesn't mean that the crisis is behind us.
BLITZER: A long, dark, and very hot night for tens of millions of people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was pretty scary. Everybody was hustling about. Everybody was sweating and everything. And they were dying of thirst.
BLITZER: More than half a dozen states, parts of two countries affected. What went wrong? And who's to blame?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been wanting for years.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I view it as a wake-up call.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. Power blackout. Reporting from Times Square in New York City, here's wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: It's August 15, 2003. Hello from Times Square in New York. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
We're just over 24 hours, 24 hours in the largest power blackout ever, ever in the United States. And this city, along with several other major metropolitan areas, still struggling to cope.
Cleveland is facing its worse water crisis ever. The pumps are finally back on. But there's virtually no, repeat no water pressure. The National Guard has been called in to hand out emergency drinking water.
In Detroit, looting overnight, looming gasoline shortage and now word that some people may not get power back until Sunday. Here are some of the latest developments we're following right now in the power blackout.
They're hot. They're tired. And they're thirsty. And now some people in Detroit are having to wait in long lines for gasoline. Some stations have already run out. And the governor has ordered emergency supplies shipped in.
President Bush is asking Congress to send him an energy bill to fix what he calls the country's, quote, "antiquated power grid." He says the blackout is a wake up call for America.
And no word from the energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, until today. Turns out he was in Europe on business. He returned today and released a statement urging people in affected areas to conserve energy.
We have reporters standing by, covering all aspects of this story. Deborah Feyerick, she's here in New York with me. Gary Nuremberg, he's over at Washington's Reagan National Airport. And Jeanne Meserve also in Washington. She's digging into questions: why, what happened, what went wrong?
First, a look at a crisis that left 50 million people in the dark.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): A round of applause in Times Square for withstanding perhaps the largest power outage in American history. In much of the northeast and Canada, the lights flickered on.
Still, so many images not seen on normal days. Street sleepers, people waiting in line for ice, struggling back to routines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think once the lights come back on, the city's going to be fine. It's New York, it's what we do.
BLITZER: A transit worker in Toronto delivering the bad news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no subways, there are no buses, there is no streetcars. There is nothing. Until further notice, we can't do nothing. If you want to use a phone, you have to go outside because there's no phones here. Unfortunately, we're all stuck together so let's all be happy.
BLITZER: Little things helped, like free sneakers given to people without transportation in New York. Those who could get around, still struggled.
This blackout covered an area that's home to some 50 million people. More than ten million people in New York State alone were without power at some point. In city after city, officials could not give an exact timetable for a full restoration.
MAYOR KWAME KILPATRICK, DETROIT, MICHIGAN: We're hearing it could be up anywhere from late tonight to the latter part of the weekend.
BLITZER: Municipalities coped with one problem after another, spawned by the massive crisis.
At least three deaths related to the blackout.
In New York, dozens of serious fires. Several hundred elevator and subway rescues. A record number of emergency medical service calls. A plea from the mayor to conserve energy and think before going back to work.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: There are worse things than taking a summer Friday off from work.
BLITZER: Cleveland got much of its power back quickly but suffered one of the worst ever water crisis. All four major pumping stations in the city shut down. Then restored this morning but with a caveat.
MAYOR JANE CAMPBELL, CLEVELAND, OHIO: When the water begins to flow you have to -- for 24 hours, you must boil the water four minutes.
BLITZER: Detroit officials counted nearly 100 arrests overnight. Not a huge number for a city that size.
Everywhere, a sense that it could have been worse. But bewilderment over how it could happen.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: We have to have answers to this. It's 2003. We are an energy-dependent society.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And here are some of the dramatic images showing the scope of the blackout. This is what the northeast United States and southeast Canada looked like on a normal night.
And this is the same region last night, a tremendous difference. The images were taken by the government's meteorological satellite program.
Snaking lines, long delays, that's just the beginning. We're going to show you what's happening as far as travel is concerned.
Lots of floor space to catch some sleep in the meantime. That's the scene at many of the nation's airports. One-hundred-thirty flights were canceled in New York cities. La Guardia Airport alone is still running on backup power.
Amtrak says trains leaving Union Station and Washington, D.C., are only leaving once an hour and they're asking travelers to avoid New York if they can.
And American Airlines, based in Texas, says it's canceled 324 flights since yesterday. It's offering one date or time change until tomorrow with no additional fees or penalties.
Gary Nuremberg is covering much of this for us. He's standing by now live at Reagan National Airport just outside Washington, D.C. -- Gary.
GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, passengers in the northeast should still expect substantial delays, but system-wide this evening it is far better than it was earlier in the day when an estimated 65,000 passengers were affected by flight cancellations in New York, Cleveland and Detroit alone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have not canceled our flight yet but we do expect it to be delayed.
NUREMBERG (voice-over): By mid afternoon all major airports, which had closed after the blackouts, were up and running with at least one terminal in business. But there were notable delays and plenty of canceled flights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's out of your control, so you wait and see.
NUREMBERG: Waiting was the key word for thousands of passengers, particularly in Detroit, which at mid-afternoon, was operating only one terminal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought that this was going to be restored within a few hours. I didn't expect it to last this long.
NUREMBERG: The Transportation Security Administration denies responsibility for the delays, saying it doesn't need electricity to do its job. Hand searches, it says, suffice.
CHRIS RHATIGAN, TSA SPOKESWOMAN: If a flight was leaving and passengers wanted to get on that flight, we would screen the passengers and the bag. So anything that you've heard about TSA being, you know, causing any backups, that's just not true.
NUREMBERG: Though the backups continue this evening but there are fewer of them each hour.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NUREMBERG: A good example is here in Washington, where we just checked the flight boards for the next twelve flights to New York. Six of them are canceled; six are on the board.
U.S. Air, or example, wanted to resume its popular shuttle service to New York at 4 p.m. this afternoon, but a spokesman told us it was unable to do so because of continuing phone and computer problems at La Guardia.
In short, Wolf, it's better than it was but it's not where it should be. BLITZER: Gary Nuremberg, reporting for us at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
Gary, thanks very much.
The blackouts's wrath has even hit Heathrow Airport over in London across the Atlantic. Heathrow says its resumed flights to JFK and New York. The London airport had canceled 18 outbound flights and 17 flights scheduled to arrive from the affected areas in the United States and Canada.
Heathrow officials hope JFK will be able to accept the resumed flights. If not the planes will be diverted to nearby Newark Airport in New Jersey.
And amid lots of conflicting information, conflicting reports and finger pointing, the investigation into what went wrong is only just beginning.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is covering what is now being called the Lake Erie Loop, and she's joining us now live with the latest on that -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, some progress in that investigation.
I just had a conversation with Michael Gent (ph) of the North American Electric Reliability Council. They are the people who are spearheading this investigation.
They have been combing through logs of what happened yesterday. And he says that at this point they can confirm that the first recorded event that they have happened at 3:06 Eastern time, when they lost 345-volt line near Cleveland, Ohio. Now they don't know what took that line out of service, and they don't know what transpired in the next hour, because it wasn't until after 4 p.m. that the cascading blackouts began.
Now, this line near Cleveland is one of about 50 that feeds into what you mentioned, the Lake Erie Loop. This is a transmission line that draws power from plants on both the U.S. and Canadian side of Lake Erie and it routes it Buffalo and Cleveland/Detroit, on up to Toronto and then back down to Buffalo.
It was problems on this line that led to the blackouts, power surge back and forth. Then things started going down.
We have an animation that shows you how that happened. This is from Genscape. They are a company that monitors the output of power plants for energy traders. And if you watch the pulsing circles here, you can see how it started with four plants in the first minute, grew to six in the next minute and so forth and so on.
Now, Mr. Gent (ph) said this absolutely is not supposed to happen. The system is supposed to protect against that. That's going to be a big part of this investigation. They're putting that team in place right now. He's saying they should have more answers by Monday.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: All right, Jeanne Meserve, reporting from Washington. Thanks, Jeanne, very much.
And only within the past few minutes we're hearing from officials in Detroit about what went wrong there. Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Analysis of our system, we continue to believe that there is no indication that there was a failure of any sort on our system, that the problems here were caused by disturbances that came from outside the system. The...
BLITZER: All right, but water certainly is a huge concern, a huge concern in Cleveland. The mayor is urging residents to boil water, get this, for at least four minutes before drinking it.
Here now with the latest from Cleveland, Ohio, Kevin Landers of CNN affiliate WBNS -- Kevin.
KEVIN LANDERS, WBNS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening.
The boil alert continues until Sunday evening. The good news is we're told that 95 percent of the water should be restored to Clevelanders by tonight. But they continue to experience rolling blackouts as the electricity turns on and off as the power grid continues to come up to full power.
The Ohio Emergency Management Agency tells us that between 100,000 and 150,000 people remain without electricity tonight.
There is some good news, though. Today the Ohio National Guard arrived here in Cleveland, carrying with them about 7,000 gallons of potable water that they plan to deliver to 17 different sites within the Cleveland area.
The reason is that many of the people in the surrounding areas derive Cleveland electricity to get the water to them in the suburbs. Without the electricity, they are simply waterless. Now the water from the Ohio National Guard will help them out, temporarily, until the electricity here is powered back on -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Kevin Landers reporting from Cleveland from our affiliate WBNS. Thanks, Kevin, very much.
Detroit's mayor, meanwhile, is hailing what he calls the spirit of the community, the spirit of this community as it copes with this power blackout. But like Cleveland, Detroit also very short on water with pumping stations running at half capacity.
Jeff Vaughn of CNN's affiliate WVID is joining us now, has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEFF VAUGHN, WVID CORRESPONDENT: Well, the normal hustle and bustle of the Motor City has been replaced by mere silence here in downtown as we are one of the many cities suffering from a blackout in the eastern part of the United States.
Now, all city services, with the exception of this police force, fire and EMS, are running on a limited basis.
(voice-over) This morning, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, along with city leaders, updated us on the state of the city, following yesterday's blackout.
Let's begin with a curfew. Detroit is enforcing its normal 11 p.m. curfew for minors and will do so through the weekend.
Since the blackout, our chief of police, Jerry Oliver, says there were 88 felony arrests. That's not unusual for Detroit on any given night. However, 22 of those arrests were related to looting.
The blackout policy for the police department is every officer is on the street.
CHIEF JERRY OLIVER, DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT: At 8 a.m. this morning the Detroit police department moved to our full mobilization alert two status which means that we moved to 12 on, 12 off. We canceled all leaves, vacations, furloughs, bonus days, those kinds of days of all of our employees. And all of our employees, both our investigative staff and our uniform staff, are in uniform to heighten visibility.
VAUGHN: Mayor Kilpatrick says the city is working to restore services but it is going to be hard without power. Trash collection is limited and a boil water ban is in effect, and water service itself is limited.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even though there is full water, it is below normal pressures that we give. So, therefore, it is in the best interest of everyone to boil the water for at least five minutes, bring it to a boil, boil it for five minutes and then let it cool down again.
VAUGHN (on camera): No city bus service set for Detroit today and our state fair, which happens here in the Motor City, was set to open up today. Well, it has been canceled.
Reporting from Detroit, I'm Jeff Vaughn. Now back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Thanks very much. Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day, is this: "Do you think your community is prepared for a prolonged blackout?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
You can vote right now. Go to my web page, CNN.com/Wolf. While you're there I would love to hear directly from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column: CNN.com/Wolf.
Transportation disrupted and the disruption continues. People sleeping in the streets. That's what's been going on, at least here in New York City among other places.
We'll go live to Penn Station, where tourists and locals are trying to get moving again.
Also, the blame game. Canada and the U.S. point fingers at each other. We'll go live upstate to New York where at least one cause has been ruled out.
And finger pointing in Washington. Find out if President Bush has an answer for the failing power grid.
The city that never sleeps found plenty of it. On hard pavement, it was an eerie sight last night. Our live coverage continues live from Times Square in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: You're looking at live pictures from Toronto. Toronto, Canada's largest city. The bus station, they're having plenty of problems there.
We're watching what's happening in Toronto, as well as what's happening in New York City. That's where I am. Welcome back to our special coverage.
Unlike New York, Toronto was, indeed, hit by some serious looting. Scott Laurie of CTV is joining us now live. He has the latest from there -- Scott.
SCOTT LAURIE, CTV CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the situation in Toronto is one where the city is extremely quiet.
Most people were told by the premiere of Ontario not to show up for work today. They were told not to drive into the city. They couldn't use the subway system. They couldn't use trains. One of the reasons is because they're trying to preserve electricity and restore it to residential areas.
The problem is that the premier said that by the end of this day 66 percent of the hydro system will be up and running in this province.
Those people that get power before the end of the day, there's no promise that they're going to keep it. Like the situation that happened in California not very long ago, there are going to be rolling blackouts, so a lot of people who will get their power restored will end up losing it for about two hours -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Scott Laurie reporting up in Toronto. Good luck to all of the people in Canada, as well. When the power went out, so did the city's subway system, that is the New York City subway system, among the world's largest. Of course, thousands of people were trapped on hundreds of trains and had to be escorted off the cars, through the dark tunnels and back to the nearest station.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the entire system was evacuated within two and a half hours. As of this afternoon, the subways are still shut down. And with street lights out, some people took it on themselves to direct traffic. Still, last night's rush hour was gridlocked.
Traffic this morning was much lighter than normal, with many people simply staying home. With more on what's happening on the streets and the sidewalks of New York, let's bring in CNN's Deborah Feyerick. She's joining us from just outside Penn Station -- Deborah.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, I was able to hitch a ride part of the way home last night. I want to tell you, we got about a block and a half, I got out of the car because traffic was so backed up.
But here at Penn Station, I'll tell you. Twenty-four hours after the lights went out, people began cheering and clapping as they came back on once again.
Crowds that were here earlier today have now dispersed. A lot of people just deciding they were going to spend the weekend elsewhere. Some people had no choice. They just wanted to get home.
I spoke to one family who had come from the airport. They said the situation at the airport was even worse. They were kept waiting up until the time their plane was supposed to depart. They were finally sent home because they were told that none of the bags, none of the metal detectors were working and so they could not be screened.
So right now, though, everyone at least beginning to grind very slowly back to normal. But, of course, the results of this blackout going to be felt for several days to come -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Deborah Feyerick. She's over at Penn Station. Thanks, Deborah, very much.
Meanwhile, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people slept on the streets of New York last night. It was an eerie sight for all of us who saw it. Some simply had to escape the heat in their un-air- conditioned homes.
But many hotel guests also had to camp out, mostly for safety reasons. And at least -- in at least one case because the electronic room keys wouldn't work without power, they had to go outside.
One camper says, it was interesting but the novelty wore off at around 2 a.m. in the morning.
As you can see from where I am, the lights are back on here in Times Square.
Joining me now to discuss what's going on in Times Square, the man responsible for developing perhaps the most famous square in the world, Tim Tompkins, joining us here live. Thanks very much for joining us.
All of these -- sit a good idea first of all to turn all of the lights back on, because the mayor keeps saying everyone should conserve energy for the time being?
TIM TOMPKINS, PRESIDENT, TIMES SQUARE: Well, you know, Times Square has always been a little bit about excess but the reality is that for the psychology of this city, to have this place which so represent it is energy and vitality of this city come back to life, not just with the lights but with the people, but especially to have the lights and the noise of that. The visual noise of that is really important for the psychology of the city to say we're back.
BLITZER: When I got here this morning half of Times Square was lit, the other half wasn't lit. It seems it's all lit now. Is everything back to normal now?
TOMPKINS: Yes, just about everything is back to normal. And it's actually been amazing how quickly things have popped back into place.
I talked to people who run the hotels, everything's in order. You know, some places that had people out on the streets last night. You know, everybody is settled in. And they lost some people coming into town, but they also had people extend their reservations.
BLITZER: All of us watch Times Square New Year's Eve, of course. You're responsible for putting that whole event together. How would you compare with what happened over the past 24 hours with a typical New Year's Eve?
TOMPKINS: Well, you know, it was just surreal. In place of that incredible energy of New Year's Eve, to see this place, which represents the city so much suddenly go dark.
And of course, it was scary for people, at least for the first 15 minutes, for first hour before we knew what happened. And then it was also magnificent to see the energy of people just relax and enjoy it. It was like a camp.
People were saying, "Look, you can see the stars in Times Square for the first time ever." People were playing music. They were telling stories well into the night.
And so it was that resilient and that wonderful mix of people from all over the world in New York that you just see in Times Square.
BLITZER: When was the last time all of the lights in Times Square were knocked out?
TOMPKINS: I have to assume that it was at the last blackout. There was one point they turned them out briefly in the '80s because they were worried -- they wanted to make a point that these needed to stay and they actually enacted laws to make sure that they stay here.
BLITZER: I've seen today -- I've been here all day. People are waiting in long lines to get in Broadway tickets to theaters. Everything is back to normal?
TOMPKINS: Everything, the show must go on with Broadway. You can get tickets out there, and it's going to go all through the weekend with shows and restaurants.
BLITZER: Any preliminary estimate how much money you guys lost over the 24 hours where things were not normal?
TOMPKINS: Certainly a few million dollars. I mean, there's a couple of million dollars worth of Broadway shows that didn't happen last night. The hotels, again, they lost some business for people that were going to be coming into town, but then the people that were stuck here extended their stay, so it worked out.
BLITZER: I was totally impressed at how cool everyone was and cooperative. Everyone seemed to get along quite well. No looting. Was there any looting as far as you can tell?
TOMPKINS: There was no looting. That's a sign of where the city's come from. I mean, 20 years ago in New York when there was a blackout there was looting.
Twenty years ago in Times Square there were people sleeping on the streets but it wasn't like it was here. It was a much nastier scene. There were people, you know, walking around without their shirts off because it was hot.
And again, 20 years ago it was a very different scene.
And the other thing is post 9/11, all of us, especially in Times Square, because it's such a high-profile place, we've been through the evacuation drills. We're much more prepared psychologically for a situation like this.
BLITZER: What lessons did you learn that you want to improve the next time, God forbid something like this happens?
TOMPKINS: Well, you know, you think you've done everything and you realize how incredibly reliant you are on certain forms of communication that are dependent upon power. And so more battery- powered things.
We -- The last time in 9/11, people relied a lot on the Internet to get the word out. We couldn't do that. And so -- But the phones were generally working. Not cell phones but other phones.
BLITZER: One quick final question. The traffic lights were all out. There was a lot of congestion here. A lot of traffic accidents?
TOMPKINS: No, and one of the things our guys are usually out there giving out information to tourists, stepped out in the middle of the street, along the cops and just started directing traffic. It really made a difference.
BLITZER: Tim Tompkins, you did a great job. Thanks for hosting us.
TOMPKINS: Good to see you. Glad you're here.
BLITZER: Times Square, what a place to be for an event like this.
TOMPKINS: Yes. That was amazing.
BLITZER: We could live without it, though.
TOMPKINS: Yes.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Tim.
We have lots more news coming up. Lots more coverage of this extraordinary power blackout, the worse in U.S. history.
An energy secretary out of town and the president on the road. We'll go live to California to hear how the White House is addressing the blackout fallout. That's just ahead.
A complex, sophisticated system or a dinosaur in need of overhaul? How America's power grid really works.
And if you're not from here, how do you cope with this crisis? A tourist shares her remarkable story. You'll want to hear this. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: You're looking at live pictures of Times Square. It's a remarkable day here. The most famous square in the world. New York City people are mulling around. The electricity has come back. The lights are back on at Times Square. We're reporting live.
Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
President Bush is covering -- is watching all of these events obviously very, very closely, acknowledging today the nation's power grid, in his word, is antiquated. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president. She's joining us now live from Newport Beach in California. The president spoke out once again, Suzanne, tell our viewer what's he said.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, President Bush is wrapping up his two-day trip to California by raising a million dollars for his campaign in Irvine. But earlier today he was at the Santa Monica mountains recreation area, used that as a brackdrop to really talk about protecting the national forests, but of course, as you know, he also wanted to address the American people. He praised them for their cooperation, saying that it really showed the true character of the American people. He also talked about the coordination of federal state and local officials, homeland security. That he was quite pleased with their performance as well. But as you know, Wolf, this has become a very political issue.
The president saying that this incident was a wake-up call. He said that the power grid system is old and antiquated and that it needs to be modernized. What he did is said, again, he called on Congress to pass his comprehensive energy bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I think part of the plan recognizes that the grid needs to be modernized, the delivery systems need to be modernized. Obviously, something like this isn't going to happen overnight but it begins to address the problem, that this particular incident has -- has made it abundantly clear to the American people that we have an antiquated system. Now we've got to figure out what went wrong and how to address it. I'm confident we will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, Wolf, really debate in Washington over the energy bill has not focused at all on this power grid issue but, rather, how to get the power to the United States. About oil and drilling, about trying to find alternative sources for power as well as trying to make the United States less dependent on the Middle East for that power. But President Bush and the Democrats, again, making this a very political issue -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Spencer Abraham, the energy secretary, he was missing. He was on a working visit overseas when this unfolded. He's come back now. Do we anticipate a major focus in the coming days on this power grid problem from the Bush administration, Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely. Actually, I just spoke with the Department of Energy and his spokesperson and she said, yes, he touched down on the ground. He has been in contact with White House officials in the last 24 hours. But this is a top priority. What some are saying, however, in Congress is that they should separate that part of the bill, modernizing this power grid from the rest of the bill that is so controversial that they might have a better chance of passing it.
Clearly, there's a lot of blame that's being thrown around at this time. President Bush did want people to know as well, though, that he is in contract throughout the day. That there are federal officials to those cities. What do they need. We know that Homeland Security, Department of Defense, as well as the secretary of Health and Human Services has been calling the hospitals and they've been getting a good response -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux, she's traveling with the president in California. Suzanne, thanks very much. The power grid, is it falling apart? Is it antiquated? What needs to be done? We'll go live to the Niagara-Mohawk power plant falsely blamed for the failure, at least by the Canadians. Now, part of the solution for getting the city back online.
Also, surviving a blackout. We'll go live to Baghdad where residents have some advice for New Yorkers. They know a great deal about blackouts.
And terror mea culpa. Libya takes blame for Lockerbie.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage of the power blackout. You're taking a look at some pictures in New York City. This is how some people cooled off during the course of today. No air conditioning. Power is coming back, but if you're really hot, I got to tell you, these people tell me, what you're seeing right now, a fire hydrant feels pretty good.
The governor of New York George Pataki visited various parts of his state throughout the day, including -- he wanted to see what was happening at the Niagra-Mohawk Power Plant that's up in Chicktowa (ph) again in upstate New York, just outside Buffalo. Carol Kaplan of our CNN affiliate WGRZ is over there at the Niagara-Mohawk power command center, she's joining us now live. Carol
CAROL KAPLAN, WGRZ CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, strong words from Governor Pataki in Buffalo this afternoon. He says the power outage did not originate in New York State and he's demanding that the U.S. Department of Energy find the cause and fix it.
Now here in Buffalo is enough to meet demand right now, but it's a delicate balance that could change at any time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAPLAN (voice-over): You can't sense the tension inside the guts of the Niagara-Mohawk operations center, but it's there. Technicians glued to monitors watching the tenuous balance between New York's power supply and the day's rising demand. At one point this morning, those dreaded words, rolling blackouts.
STEVE BRADY, A-MOHAWK SPOKESMAN: Well the New York State independence systems operator, which is essentially the traffic cop for the statewide flow of power for all the utilities asked all 7 major utilities in the State to begin reducing customer demand, which is a polite way of saying, shutting load, or rolling blackouts.
KAPLAN: Power company officials explain it this way, at 3 this morning power supply was low due to decreased generation, but demand at that hour was low too, no problem, but by 10:30 am, demand rose higher than supply, rolling blackouts began. An hour later supply was pumped up and blackouts were halted.
Niagara-Mohawk officials say the problem is not with power distribution, but generation and until that can be increased, are asking for everyone's help.
BRADY: We are still asking them to conserve and now to conserve as much as they can. Shut off air conditioners, use fans instead. Try to shift as much uses as they can, to what we call our off peek periods, which is generally in the cooler evening hours or on week ends.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAPLAN: And despite reports to the contrary, local officials were quick to point out that there is no truth to reports that lightning struck our hydro power plant in Niagara Falls. A check of local systems show no glitches anywhere -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Carol Kaplan, from our affiliate WGRZ, outside of Buffalo in Chickowaga (ph) my home town. Thanks Carol, very much.
In light of the blackout what's been going on, we're learning a great deal about a subject none of us really knew all that much about, or at least most us didn't know about much about, the power grid in the United States.
Let's get some analysis what all of this means. CNN's technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg, is joining us now live -- Daniel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's easy to take for granted. But the path of electricity from a power plant to your wall socket is a rather, well, circuitous one.
Think of it like our nation's roadways. There are expressways, smaller lanes, on-ramps and off-ramps and intersections. In the world of electricity, these interconnected systems are called power grids. But since electricity cannot be stored, it's generated as needed, then distributed on demand.
Each state shares power with the states next door. When one runs short, a neighbor picks up the slack. That's how the power grid stay in balance, especially in the summer months when energy is in high demand.
The place where power is used, though, is often far away, maybe hundreds of miles from the place the power is generated. There are 6,000 power generating units across the country. Here you can see the flashing red ones, where the 21 outages occurred Thursday. These units are energized with coal, oil, gas, falling water, wind or nuclear fission. A certain amount of power is lost as electricity travels over long transmission lines. So there are substations along the way to boost the current to a higher voltage.
The U.S. and Canada have about half million miles of high voltage transmission lines. The wires eventually lead to regional distribution centers, which in turn manage the power down to local trunks which then dole out the energy to local homes and neighborhoods. And there are monitors all along the grid, ready to make automatic adjustments for sudden demand or spikes in power output.
Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And we're getting new numbers. The initial numbers from the city of New York, the Finance Department giving out the cost estimates, what this power blackout initially -- initial estimates, what it might cost New York in terms of lost tax, revenue, 35 to $40 million. The initial estimate in terms of overtime to the New York City government, $6.5 million. In terms of loss of personal income -- get this -- only 24 hours, 500 to $750 million. Those are the initial numbers.
So what's it like to live without electricity not once but twice? We're joined now by a guest, Jan Smith, who's gone through this now twice in as many months.
You're from Memphis visiting New York. You had a power blackout in Memphis. When was that?
JAN SMITH, NEW YORK TOURIST: We had a storm on July the 22nd, that 100 mile an hour winds that came through and devastated the city pretty much. I was without power for six days, still had to go to work. And I had friends who were without power for 14 days. So it was pretty devastating. And ironically, not many people across the country heard about the destruction.
I think the biggest difference was you understood it more clearly. You could go out and see the trees were down, you saw there were no street lights. So it's an easier concept to grasp when you see it rather than it just happened the way it did here yesterday.
BLITZER: It happened in Memphis, it was rather horrible weather.
SMITH: Oh, yes.
BLITZER: As opposed to here there was presumably some sort of technical glitch.
So then you show up in New York. What are you doing here in New York?
SMITH: I was working. My office is 1166 Avenue of the Americans and we were working and at 4:15, one of the ladies we were working with said, There's something strange going on here because her computer was flickering. And we were working on a project. And the irony of it is, in Memphis you understood immediately. In this office, because of 9/11 and the fact that Marcia (ph) lost many folks, the immediate reaction was, Oh, no, it's happening again.
I think I probably was a little calmer because I was a little bit more removed and was able to call home. So I called home and I have a technical help desk at home said, There's something going on here. Ironically I said, get on CNN and let's see what's on the Internet. But we had -- because of the help desk we knew Morristown was down and we knew some Virginia office was down, so we put it together pretty quickly that it was power outage as opposed to an attack.
BLITZER: Well, Jan Smith, I'm glad everything worked out for you. I don't know where you're going next. Let's hope there's no more power blackouts., wherever your next destination is. Jan Smith, thanks very much for coming to Times Square.
We're following continuing developments here in New York, elsewhere around the country significant problems as a result of the power blackout. Millions of people without power. Millions of people without fuel. Gas stations in many blackout areas were closed because the pumps run on electricity.
In Detroit, people lined up at the few stations that had backup power. Michigan's Governor, Jennifer Granholm, declared a state of emergency and signed an executive order to expedite the delivery of nearly one million gallons of gasoline.
It was business as usual today on the New York Stock Exchange, sort of. Power was restored to the Wall Street area shortly after 6:00 a.m., and New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, was on hand for the opening bell.
Was Wall Street spooked by yesterday's blackout?
Let's check in with CNN's Mary Snow joining us now live from the New York Stock Exchange -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Wall Street was open for business but not much business being done. The major indices just gaining a few points. And this was the slowest trading day of the year.
Today, though, not so much about stocks as symbolism. The chairman of the New York Stock Exchange was determined to get the exchange open today. Crews worked around the night. And also the chairman saying that about 300 people spent the night at the New York Stock Exchange, including Dick Grasso himself. He said he slept on his couch for a little while there.
As you mentioned, power did kick in at 6:00 a.m. But the stock exchange had been prepared to go on a backup generator -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Mary Snow with the latest from the stock exchange open today, open in part to reassure nervous jittery, investors.
We have much more coming up, including an attack that shocked Americans long before September 11. We're going to check some of the other day's important news.
Now there may be some accountability for the bombing of Pan Am 103. That story just ahead.
And also this -- what Iraqis are saying about America's power crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: New York City, it's coming back to normal -- after some 24 hours of major power disruption. You're looking live at the Empire State Building, a building that was dark yesterday at this time. It's coming back to life. Indeed, power being restored to almost all parts of New York City. By now the city bustling. A lot of excited, happy people. The 24-hour crisis seems to have gone without too much of a snag, although there were serious problems, as all of us know.
We'll have much more coming up on the blackout. What happened?
But first let's check other headlines developing right now.
Nearly 15 years after a bomb destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, families of the victims are on track to receive millions in compensation. U.S. officials says Libya has prepared an official letter renouncing terrorism and accepting responsibility for the bombing. A lawyer representing victims' families says each family is likely to receive at least $5 million.
Take look at this. This is not, as far as we know, Saddam Hussein's latest disguise to avoid capture. Instead, it's a trick photograph produced by some U.S. soldiers in Iraq as moral booster. They superimposed Saddam's face on the body of a model. They've hung this photo in one of Saddam's former presidential palaces along with similar trick photos of Saddam as an actress, a cartoon character and, yes, indeed, as Elvis.
There's more information coming out today on the important arrest yesterday, or at least earlier this week, of an al Qaeda leader known as Hambali. Described as a senior al Qaeda strategist, Hambali was arrested in Thailand along with two top lieutenants. CNN national security correspondent David Ensor has details on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Known as Hambali, Malaysian Ridowan Isomudan (ph) was Asia's most wanted man, the operational brains of the al Qaeda of Jamah Islamya group. He was a mastermind of the Bali bombing that killed over 200, say U.S. officials, and of last week's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. He was an organizer of the January 2000 al Qaeda meeting in Kuala Lumpur attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers.
BUSH: He's a known killer. He was a close associate of September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Muhammad.
ENSOR: And the president himself may have been on Hambali's target list. U.S. law enforcement officials say the terrorist leader was captured in Thailand and that there is evidence he may have hoped to organize an attack against the planned meeting there of presidents and prime ministers, the APEC meeting scheduled for October.
Not since the capture five months ago of Khalid Shaikh Muhammad, say U.S. officials, has such a senior figure been captured. Hambali has been moved to another location, U.S. officials say, for interrogation by the CIA. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course he probably does have information about future attacks. What's he going to say? A lot of these these high ranking al Qaeda operatives, you expect them not to be particularly forthcoming, but in fact, U.S. officials say they have been.
BUSH: He is no longer a problem to those of us who love freedom and neither are nearly 2/3 of known senior al Qaeda leaders, operational managers and key facilitators who have been captured or have been killed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Hambali was captured after a struggle in a Muslim neighborhood in Thailand along with two of his top lieutenants. We're told this was done by Thai police cooperating with the Central Intelligent Agency who is now holding and questioning him.
I should mention that although come officials believe there may have been a threat by Hambali and others, that there's evidence of that for the APEC meeting in October, U.S. officials I've spoken to today say they don't have any evidence to back that theory up -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David Ensor with the latest on that important arrest. Thanks, David, very much. When we come back, we'll hear from Iraqis. These are people who have lived with power blackouts for some time. They have advice for all of us. We'll hear what they have to say. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Yesterday's power blackout here in the United States and Canada caused ripples around the world. People watching from all over the place. Of course, in Baghdad as well. No shortage to power blackouts of their own. We went out and spoke to some Iraqis. Here's what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I say, America is a strong country. They'll be able to fix it but they say it's not sabotage and that it's probably from just malfunctioning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We say God help the Iraqis who have suffered long years under the Ba'ath Party and here are Americans after 16 hours of no electricity, running around the streets like crazy people. It's a country that doesn't even have patience for just 16 hours while we have been suffering 35 years. We are just thankful to be alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no electricity in New York and a few other cities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now in America. There's no electricity. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The electricity has been cut off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't believe it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't believe it. America she is big country and rich, rich, people. They have no electricity? No, I don't believe it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Advice from Iraqis on how to deal with blackouts. Here's how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day. Remember, we've been asking you this question, "do you think your community is prepared for a prolonged blackout. Look at this, 62 percent of you say yes, 38 percent of you say no.
As always, we remind you this is not a scientific poll. You can continue to vote, by the way, on our Web site, CNN.com/wolf.
A reminder we're on Monday through Friday, twice a day at noon and 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you Sunday on "LATE EDITION." The last word in Sunday talk. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Times Square in New York, New York.
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Aired August 15, 2003 - 17:00 ET
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I am Wolf Blitzer, reporting tonight live from New York City. A dark time in parts of North America. Into the Dark Ages. Today, millions of Americans are struggling for a normal life.
WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
The largest blackout in U.S. history. A day later, millions of people still without power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just because your power has been restored doesn't mean that the crisis is behind us.
BLITZER: A long, dark, and very hot night for tens of millions of people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was pretty scary. Everybody was hustling about. Everybody was sweating and everything. And they were dying of thirst.
BLITZER: More than half a dozen states, parts of two countries affected. What went wrong? And who's to blame?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been wanting for years.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I view it as a wake-up call.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. Power blackout. Reporting from Times Square in New York City, here's wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: It's August 15, 2003. Hello from Times Square in New York. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
We're just over 24 hours, 24 hours in the largest power blackout ever, ever in the United States. And this city, along with several other major metropolitan areas, still struggling to cope.
Cleveland is facing its worse water crisis ever. The pumps are finally back on. But there's virtually no, repeat no water pressure. The National Guard has been called in to hand out emergency drinking water.
In Detroit, looting overnight, looming gasoline shortage and now word that some people may not get power back until Sunday. Here are some of the latest developments we're following right now in the power blackout.
They're hot. They're tired. And they're thirsty. And now some people in Detroit are having to wait in long lines for gasoline. Some stations have already run out. And the governor has ordered emergency supplies shipped in.
President Bush is asking Congress to send him an energy bill to fix what he calls the country's, quote, "antiquated power grid." He says the blackout is a wake up call for America.
And no word from the energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, until today. Turns out he was in Europe on business. He returned today and released a statement urging people in affected areas to conserve energy.
We have reporters standing by, covering all aspects of this story. Deborah Feyerick, she's here in New York with me. Gary Nuremberg, he's over at Washington's Reagan National Airport. And Jeanne Meserve also in Washington. She's digging into questions: why, what happened, what went wrong?
First, a look at a crisis that left 50 million people in the dark.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): A round of applause in Times Square for withstanding perhaps the largest power outage in American history. In much of the northeast and Canada, the lights flickered on.
Still, so many images not seen on normal days. Street sleepers, people waiting in line for ice, struggling back to routines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think once the lights come back on, the city's going to be fine. It's New York, it's what we do.
BLITZER: A transit worker in Toronto delivering the bad news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no subways, there are no buses, there is no streetcars. There is nothing. Until further notice, we can't do nothing. If you want to use a phone, you have to go outside because there's no phones here. Unfortunately, we're all stuck together so let's all be happy.
BLITZER: Little things helped, like free sneakers given to people without transportation in New York. Those who could get around, still struggled.
This blackout covered an area that's home to some 50 million people. More than ten million people in New York State alone were without power at some point. In city after city, officials could not give an exact timetable for a full restoration.
MAYOR KWAME KILPATRICK, DETROIT, MICHIGAN: We're hearing it could be up anywhere from late tonight to the latter part of the weekend.
BLITZER: Municipalities coped with one problem after another, spawned by the massive crisis.
At least three deaths related to the blackout.
In New York, dozens of serious fires. Several hundred elevator and subway rescues. A record number of emergency medical service calls. A plea from the mayor to conserve energy and think before going back to work.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: There are worse things than taking a summer Friday off from work.
BLITZER: Cleveland got much of its power back quickly but suffered one of the worst ever water crisis. All four major pumping stations in the city shut down. Then restored this morning but with a caveat.
MAYOR JANE CAMPBELL, CLEVELAND, OHIO: When the water begins to flow you have to -- for 24 hours, you must boil the water four minutes.
BLITZER: Detroit officials counted nearly 100 arrests overnight. Not a huge number for a city that size.
Everywhere, a sense that it could have been worse. But bewilderment over how it could happen.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: We have to have answers to this. It's 2003. We are an energy-dependent society.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And here are some of the dramatic images showing the scope of the blackout. This is what the northeast United States and southeast Canada looked like on a normal night.
And this is the same region last night, a tremendous difference. The images were taken by the government's meteorological satellite program.
Snaking lines, long delays, that's just the beginning. We're going to show you what's happening as far as travel is concerned.
Lots of floor space to catch some sleep in the meantime. That's the scene at many of the nation's airports. One-hundred-thirty flights were canceled in New York cities. La Guardia Airport alone is still running on backup power.
Amtrak says trains leaving Union Station and Washington, D.C., are only leaving once an hour and they're asking travelers to avoid New York if they can.
And American Airlines, based in Texas, says it's canceled 324 flights since yesterday. It's offering one date or time change until tomorrow with no additional fees or penalties.
Gary Nuremberg is covering much of this for us. He's standing by now live at Reagan National Airport just outside Washington, D.C. -- Gary.
GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, passengers in the northeast should still expect substantial delays, but system-wide this evening it is far better than it was earlier in the day when an estimated 65,000 passengers were affected by flight cancellations in New York, Cleveland and Detroit alone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have not canceled our flight yet but we do expect it to be delayed.
NUREMBERG (voice-over): By mid afternoon all major airports, which had closed after the blackouts, were up and running with at least one terminal in business. But there were notable delays and plenty of canceled flights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's out of your control, so you wait and see.
NUREMBERG: Waiting was the key word for thousands of passengers, particularly in Detroit, which at mid-afternoon, was operating only one terminal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought that this was going to be restored within a few hours. I didn't expect it to last this long.
NUREMBERG: The Transportation Security Administration denies responsibility for the delays, saying it doesn't need electricity to do its job. Hand searches, it says, suffice.
CHRIS RHATIGAN, TSA SPOKESWOMAN: If a flight was leaving and passengers wanted to get on that flight, we would screen the passengers and the bag. So anything that you've heard about TSA being, you know, causing any backups, that's just not true.
NUREMBERG: Though the backups continue this evening but there are fewer of them each hour.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NUREMBERG: A good example is here in Washington, where we just checked the flight boards for the next twelve flights to New York. Six of them are canceled; six are on the board.
U.S. Air, or example, wanted to resume its popular shuttle service to New York at 4 p.m. this afternoon, but a spokesman told us it was unable to do so because of continuing phone and computer problems at La Guardia.
In short, Wolf, it's better than it was but it's not where it should be. BLITZER: Gary Nuremberg, reporting for us at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
Gary, thanks very much.
The blackouts's wrath has even hit Heathrow Airport over in London across the Atlantic. Heathrow says its resumed flights to JFK and New York. The London airport had canceled 18 outbound flights and 17 flights scheduled to arrive from the affected areas in the United States and Canada.
Heathrow officials hope JFK will be able to accept the resumed flights. If not the planes will be diverted to nearby Newark Airport in New Jersey.
And amid lots of conflicting information, conflicting reports and finger pointing, the investigation into what went wrong is only just beginning.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is covering what is now being called the Lake Erie Loop, and she's joining us now live with the latest on that -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, some progress in that investigation.
I just had a conversation with Michael Gent (ph) of the North American Electric Reliability Council. They are the people who are spearheading this investigation.
They have been combing through logs of what happened yesterday. And he says that at this point they can confirm that the first recorded event that they have happened at 3:06 Eastern time, when they lost 345-volt line near Cleveland, Ohio. Now they don't know what took that line out of service, and they don't know what transpired in the next hour, because it wasn't until after 4 p.m. that the cascading blackouts began.
Now, this line near Cleveland is one of about 50 that feeds into what you mentioned, the Lake Erie Loop. This is a transmission line that draws power from plants on both the U.S. and Canadian side of Lake Erie and it routes it Buffalo and Cleveland/Detroit, on up to Toronto and then back down to Buffalo.
It was problems on this line that led to the blackouts, power surge back and forth. Then things started going down.
We have an animation that shows you how that happened. This is from Genscape. They are a company that monitors the output of power plants for energy traders. And if you watch the pulsing circles here, you can see how it started with four plants in the first minute, grew to six in the next minute and so forth and so on.
Now, Mr. Gent (ph) said this absolutely is not supposed to happen. The system is supposed to protect against that. That's going to be a big part of this investigation. They're putting that team in place right now. He's saying they should have more answers by Monday.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: All right, Jeanne Meserve, reporting from Washington. Thanks, Jeanne, very much.
And only within the past few minutes we're hearing from officials in Detroit about what went wrong there. Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Analysis of our system, we continue to believe that there is no indication that there was a failure of any sort on our system, that the problems here were caused by disturbances that came from outside the system. The...
BLITZER: All right, but water certainly is a huge concern, a huge concern in Cleveland. The mayor is urging residents to boil water, get this, for at least four minutes before drinking it.
Here now with the latest from Cleveland, Ohio, Kevin Landers of CNN affiliate WBNS -- Kevin.
KEVIN LANDERS, WBNS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening.
The boil alert continues until Sunday evening. The good news is we're told that 95 percent of the water should be restored to Clevelanders by tonight. But they continue to experience rolling blackouts as the electricity turns on and off as the power grid continues to come up to full power.
The Ohio Emergency Management Agency tells us that between 100,000 and 150,000 people remain without electricity tonight.
There is some good news, though. Today the Ohio National Guard arrived here in Cleveland, carrying with them about 7,000 gallons of potable water that they plan to deliver to 17 different sites within the Cleveland area.
The reason is that many of the people in the surrounding areas derive Cleveland electricity to get the water to them in the suburbs. Without the electricity, they are simply waterless. Now the water from the Ohio National Guard will help them out, temporarily, until the electricity here is powered back on -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Kevin Landers reporting from Cleveland from our affiliate WBNS. Thanks, Kevin, very much.
Detroit's mayor, meanwhile, is hailing what he calls the spirit of the community, the spirit of this community as it copes with this power blackout. But like Cleveland, Detroit also very short on water with pumping stations running at half capacity.
Jeff Vaughn of CNN's affiliate WVID is joining us now, has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEFF VAUGHN, WVID CORRESPONDENT: Well, the normal hustle and bustle of the Motor City has been replaced by mere silence here in downtown as we are one of the many cities suffering from a blackout in the eastern part of the United States.
Now, all city services, with the exception of this police force, fire and EMS, are running on a limited basis.
(voice-over) This morning, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, along with city leaders, updated us on the state of the city, following yesterday's blackout.
Let's begin with a curfew. Detroit is enforcing its normal 11 p.m. curfew for minors and will do so through the weekend.
Since the blackout, our chief of police, Jerry Oliver, says there were 88 felony arrests. That's not unusual for Detroit on any given night. However, 22 of those arrests were related to looting.
The blackout policy for the police department is every officer is on the street.
CHIEF JERRY OLIVER, DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT: At 8 a.m. this morning the Detroit police department moved to our full mobilization alert two status which means that we moved to 12 on, 12 off. We canceled all leaves, vacations, furloughs, bonus days, those kinds of days of all of our employees. And all of our employees, both our investigative staff and our uniform staff, are in uniform to heighten visibility.
VAUGHN: Mayor Kilpatrick says the city is working to restore services but it is going to be hard without power. Trash collection is limited and a boil water ban is in effect, and water service itself is limited.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even though there is full water, it is below normal pressures that we give. So, therefore, it is in the best interest of everyone to boil the water for at least five minutes, bring it to a boil, boil it for five minutes and then let it cool down again.
VAUGHN (on camera): No city bus service set for Detroit today and our state fair, which happens here in the Motor City, was set to open up today. Well, it has been canceled.
Reporting from Detroit, I'm Jeff Vaughn. Now back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Thanks very much. Here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day, is this: "Do you think your community is prepared for a prolonged blackout?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
You can vote right now. Go to my web page, CNN.com/Wolf. While you're there I would love to hear directly from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column: CNN.com/Wolf.
Transportation disrupted and the disruption continues. People sleeping in the streets. That's what's been going on, at least here in New York City among other places.
We'll go live to Penn Station, where tourists and locals are trying to get moving again.
Also, the blame game. Canada and the U.S. point fingers at each other. We'll go live upstate to New York where at least one cause has been ruled out.
And finger pointing in Washington. Find out if President Bush has an answer for the failing power grid.
The city that never sleeps found plenty of it. On hard pavement, it was an eerie sight last night. Our live coverage continues live from Times Square in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: You're looking at live pictures from Toronto. Toronto, Canada's largest city. The bus station, they're having plenty of problems there.
We're watching what's happening in Toronto, as well as what's happening in New York City. That's where I am. Welcome back to our special coverage.
Unlike New York, Toronto was, indeed, hit by some serious looting. Scott Laurie of CTV is joining us now live. He has the latest from there -- Scott.
SCOTT LAURIE, CTV CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the situation in Toronto is one where the city is extremely quiet.
Most people were told by the premiere of Ontario not to show up for work today. They were told not to drive into the city. They couldn't use the subway system. They couldn't use trains. One of the reasons is because they're trying to preserve electricity and restore it to residential areas.
The problem is that the premier said that by the end of this day 66 percent of the hydro system will be up and running in this province.
Those people that get power before the end of the day, there's no promise that they're going to keep it. Like the situation that happened in California not very long ago, there are going to be rolling blackouts, so a lot of people who will get their power restored will end up losing it for about two hours -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Scott Laurie reporting up in Toronto. Good luck to all of the people in Canada, as well. When the power went out, so did the city's subway system, that is the New York City subway system, among the world's largest. Of course, thousands of people were trapped on hundreds of trains and had to be escorted off the cars, through the dark tunnels and back to the nearest station.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the entire system was evacuated within two and a half hours. As of this afternoon, the subways are still shut down. And with street lights out, some people took it on themselves to direct traffic. Still, last night's rush hour was gridlocked.
Traffic this morning was much lighter than normal, with many people simply staying home. With more on what's happening on the streets and the sidewalks of New York, let's bring in CNN's Deborah Feyerick. She's joining us from just outside Penn Station -- Deborah.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, I was able to hitch a ride part of the way home last night. I want to tell you, we got about a block and a half, I got out of the car because traffic was so backed up.
But here at Penn Station, I'll tell you. Twenty-four hours after the lights went out, people began cheering and clapping as they came back on once again.
Crowds that were here earlier today have now dispersed. A lot of people just deciding they were going to spend the weekend elsewhere. Some people had no choice. They just wanted to get home.
I spoke to one family who had come from the airport. They said the situation at the airport was even worse. They were kept waiting up until the time their plane was supposed to depart. They were finally sent home because they were told that none of the bags, none of the metal detectors were working and so they could not be screened.
So right now, though, everyone at least beginning to grind very slowly back to normal. But, of course, the results of this blackout going to be felt for several days to come -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Deborah Feyerick. She's over at Penn Station. Thanks, Deborah, very much.
Meanwhile, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people slept on the streets of New York last night. It was an eerie sight for all of us who saw it. Some simply had to escape the heat in their un-air- conditioned homes.
But many hotel guests also had to camp out, mostly for safety reasons. And at least -- in at least one case because the electronic room keys wouldn't work without power, they had to go outside.
One camper says, it was interesting but the novelty wore off at around 2 a.m. in the morning.
As you can see from where I am, the lights are back on here in Times Square.
Joining me now to discuss what's going on in Times Square, the man responsible for developing perhaps the most famous square in the world, Tim Tompkins, joining us here live. Thanks very much for joining us.
All of these -- sit a good idea first of all to turn all of the lights back on, because the mayor keeps saying everyone should conserve energy for the time being?
TIM TOMPKINS, PRESIDENT, TIMES SQUARE: Well, you know, Times Square has always been a little bit about excess but the reality is that for the psychology of this city, to have this place which so represent it is energy and vitality of this city come back to life, not just with the lights but with the people, but especially to have the lights and the noise of that. The visual noise of that is really important for the psychology of the city to say we're back.
BLITZER: When I got here this morning half of Times Square was lit, the other half wasn't lit. It seems it's all lit now. Is everything back to normal now?
TOMPKINS: Yes, just about everything is back to normal. And it's actually been amazing how quickly things have popped back into place.
I talked to people who run the hotels, everything's in order. You know, some places that had people out on the streets last night. You know, everybody is settled in. And they lost some people coming into town, but they also had people extend their reservations.
BLITZER: All of us watch Times Square New Year's Eve, of course. You're responsible for putting that whole event together. How would you compare with what happened over the past 24 hours with a typical New Year's Eve?
TOMPKINS: Well, you know, it was just surreal. In place of that incredible energy of New Year's Eve, to see this place, which represents the city so much suddenly go dark.
And of course, it was scary for people, at least for the first 15 minutes, for first hour before we knew what happened. And then it was also magnificent to see the energy of people just relax and enjoy it. It was like a camp.
People were saying, "Look, you can see the stars in Times Square for the first time ever." People were playing music. They were telling stories well into the night.
And so it was that resilient and that wonderful mix of people from all over the world in New York that you just see in Times Square.
BLITZER: When was the last time all of the lights in Times Square were knocked out?
TOMPKINS: I have to assume that it was at the last blackout. There was one point they turned them out briefly in the '80s because they were worried -- they wanted to make a point that these needed to stay and they actually enacted laws to make sure that they stay here.
BLITZER: I've seen today -- I've been here all day. People are waiting in long lines to get in Broadway tickets to theaters. Everything is back to normal?
TOMPKINS: Everything, the show must go on with Broadway. You can get tickets out there, and it's going to go all through the weekend with shows and restaurants.
BLITZER: Any preliminary estimate how much money you guys lost over the 24 hours where things were not normal?
TOMPKINS: Certainly a few million dollars. I mean, there's a couple of million dollars worth of Broadway shows that didn't happen last night. The hotels, again, they lost some business for people that were going to be coming into town, but then the people that were stuck here extended their stay, so it worked out.
BLITZER: I was totally impressed at how cool everyone was and cooperative. Everyone seemed to get along quite well. No looting. Was there any looting as far as you can tell?
TOMPKINS: There was no looting. That's a sign of where the city's come from. I mean, 20 years ago in New York when there was a blackout there was looting.
Twenty years ago in Times Square there were people sleeping on the streets but it wasn't like it was here. It was a much nastier scene. There were people, you know, walking around without their shirts off because it was hot.
And again, 20 years ago it was a very different scene.
And the other thing is post 9/11, all of us, especially in Times Square, because it's such a high-profile place, we've been through the evacuation drills. We're much more prepared psychologically for a situation like this.
BLITZER: What lessons did you learn that you want to improve the next time, God forbid something like this happens?
TOMPKINS: Well, you know, you think you've done everything and you realize how incredibly reliant you are on certain forms of communication that are dependent upon power. And so more battery- powered things.
We -- The last time in 9/11, people relied a lot on the Internet to get the word out. We couldn't do that. And so -- But the phones were generally working. Not cell phones but other phones.
BLITZER: One quick final question. The traffic lights were all out. There was a lot of congestion here. A lot of traffic accidents?
TOMPKINS: No, and one of the things our guys are usually out there giving out information to tourists, stepped out in the middle of the street, along the cops and just started directing traffic. It really made a difference.
BLITZER: Tim Tompkins, you did a great job. Thanks for hosting us.
TOMPKINS: Good to see you. Glad you're here.
BLITZER: Times Square, what a place to be for an event like this.
TOMPKINS: Yes. That was amazing.
BLITZER: We could live without it, though.
TOMPKINS: Yes.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Tim.
We have lots more news coming up. Lots more coverage of this extraordinary power blackout, the worse in U.S. history.
An energy secretary out of town and the president on the road. We'll go live to California to hear how the White House is addressing the blackout fallout. That's just ahead.
A complex, sophisticated system or a dinosaur in need of overhaul? How America's power grid really works.
And if you're not from here, how do you cope with this crisis? A tourist shares her remarkable story. You'll want to hear this. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: You're looking at live pictures of Times Square. It's a remarkable day here. The most famous square in the world. New York City people are mulling around. The electricity has come back. The lights are back on at Times Square. We're reporting live.
Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
President Bush is covering -- is watching all of these events obviously very, very closely, acknowledging today the nation's power grid, in his word, is antiquated. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president. She's joining us now live from Newport Beach in California. The president spoke out once again, Suzanne, tell our viewer what's he said.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, President Bush is wrapping up his two-day trip to California by raising a million dollars for his campaign in Irvine. But earlier today he was at the Santa Monica mountains recreation area, used that as a brackdrop to really talk about protecting the national forests, but of course, as you know, he also wanted to address the American people. He praised them for their cooperation, saying that it really showed the true character of the American people. He also talked about the coordination of federal state and local officials, homeland security. That he was quite pleased with their performance as well. But as you know, Wolf, this has become a very political issue.
The president saying that this incident was a wake-up call. He said that the power grid system is old and antiquated and that it needs to be modernized. What he did is said, again, he called on Congress to pass his comprehensive energy bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I think part of the plan recognizes that the grid needs to be modernized, the delivery systems need to be modernized. Obviously, something like this isn't going to happen overnight but it begins to address the problem, that this particular incident has -- has made it abundantly clear to the American people that we have an antiquated system. Now we've got to figure out what went wrong and how to address it. I'm confident we will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, Wolf, really debate in Washington over the energy bill has not focused at all on this power grid issue but, rather, how to get the power to the United States. About oil and drilling, about trying to find alternative sources for power as well as trying to make the United States less dependent on the Middle East for that power. But President Bush and the Democrats, again, making this a very political issue -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Spencer Abraham, the energy secretary, he was missing. He was on a working visit overseas when this unfolded. He's come back now. Do we anticipate a major focus in the coming days on this power grid problem from the Bush administration, Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely. Actually, I just spoke with the Department of Energy and his spokesperson and she said, yes, he touched down on the ground. He has been in contact with White House officials in the last 24 hours. But this is a top priority. What some are saying, however, in Congress is that they should separate that part of the bill, modernizing this power grid from the rest of the bill that is so controversial that they might have a better chance of passing it.
Clearly, there's a lot of blame that's being thrown around at this time. President Bush did want people to know as well, though, that he is in contract throughout the day. That there are federal officials to those cities. What do they need. We know that Homeland Security, Department of Defense, as well as the secretary of Health and Human Services has been calling the hospitals and they've been getting a good response -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux, she's traveling with the president in California. Suzanne, thanks very much. The power grid, is it falling apart? Is it antiquated? What needs to be done? We'll go live to the Niagara-Mohawk power plant falsely blamed for the failure, at least by the Canadians. Now, part of the solution for getting the city back online.
Also, surviving a blackout. We'll go live to Baghdad where residents have some advice for New Yorkers. They know a great deal about blackouts.
And terror mea culpa. Libya takes blame for Lockerbie.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage of the power blackout. You're taking a look at some pictures in New York City. This is how some people cooled off during the course of today. No air conditioning. Power is coming back, but if you're really hot, I got to tell you, these people tell me, what you're seeing right now, a fire hydrant feels pretty good.
The governor of New York George Pataki visited various parts of his state throughout the day, including -- he wanted to see what was happening at the Niagra-Mohawk Power Plant that's up in Chicktowa (ph) again in upstate New York, just outside Buffalo. Carol Kaplan of our CNN affiliate WGRZ is over there at the Niagara-Mohawk power command center, she's joining us now live. Carol
CAROL KAPLAN, WGRZ CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, strong words from Governor Pataki in Buffalo this afternoon. He says the power outage did not originate in New York State and he's demanding that the U.S. Department of Energy find the cause and fix it.
Now here in Buffalo is enough to meet demand right now, but it's a delicate balance that could change at any time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAPLAN (voice-over): You can't sense the tension inside the guts of the Niagara-Mohawk operations center, but it's there. Technicians glued to monitors watching the tenuous balance between New York's power supply and the day's rising demand. At one point this morning, those dreaded words, rolling blackouts.
STEVE BRADY, A-MOHAWK SPOKESMAN: Well the New York State independence systems operator, which is essentially the traffic cop for the statewide flow of power for all the utilities asked all 7 major utilities in the State to begin reducing customer demand, which is a polite way of saying, shutting load, or rolling blackouts.
KAPLAN: Power company officials explain it this way, at 3 this morning power supply was low due to decreased generation, but demand at that hour was low too, no problem, but by 10:30 am, demand rose higher than supply, rolling blackouts began. An hour later supply was pumped up and blackouts were halted.
Niagara-Mohawk officials say the problem is not with power distribution, but generation and until that can be increased, are asking for everyone's help.
BRADY: We are still asking them to conserve and now to conserve as much as they can. Shut off air conditioners, use fans instead. Try to shift as much uses as they can, to what we call our off peek periods, which is generally in the cooler evening hours or on week ends.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAPLAN: And despite reports to the contrary, local officials were quick to point out that there is no truth to reports that lightning struck our hydro power plant in Niagara Falls. A check of local systems show no glitches anywhere -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Carol Kaplan, from our affiliate WGRZ, outside of Buffalo in Chickowaga (ph) my home town. Thanks Carol, very much.
In light of the blackout what's been going on, we're learning a great deal about a subject none of us really knew all that much about, or at least most us didn't know about much about, the power grid in the United States.
Let's get some analysis what all of this means. CNN's technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg, is joining us now live -- Daniel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's easy to take for granted. But the path of electricity from a power plant to your wall socket is a rather, well, circuitous one.
Think of it like our nation's roadways. There are expressways, smaller lanes, on-ramps and off-ramps and intersections. In the world of electricity, these interconnected systems are called power grids. But since electricity cannot be stored, it's generated as needed, then distributed on demand.
Each state shares power with the states next door. When one runs short, a neighbor picks up the slack. That's how the power grid stay in balance, especially in the summer months when energy is in high demand.
The place where power is used, though, is often far away, maybe hundreds of miles from the place the power is generated. There are 6,000 power generating units across the country. Here you can see the flashing red ones, where the 21 outages occurred Thursday. These units are energized with coal, oil, gas, falling water, wind or nuclear fission. A certain amount of power is lost as electricity travels over long transmission lines. So there are substations along the way to boost the current to a higher voltage.
The U.S. and Canada have about half million miles of high voltage transmission lines. The wires eventually lead to regional distribution centers, which in turn manage the power down to local trunks which then dole out the energy to local homes and neighborhoods. And there are monitors all along the grid, ready to make automatic adjustments for sudden demand or spikes in power output.
Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And we're getting new numbers. The initial numbers from the city of New York, the Finance Department giving out the cost estimates, what this power blackout initially -- initial estimates, what it might cost New York in terms of lost tax, revenue, 35 to $40 million. The initial estimate in terms of overtime to the New York City government, $6.5 million. In terms of loss of personal income -- get this -- only 24 hours, 500 to $750 million. Those are the initial numbers.
So what's it like to live without electricity not once but twice? We're joined now by a guest, Jan Smith, who's gone through this now twice in as many months.
You're from Memphis visiting New York. You had a power blackout in Memphis. When was that?
JAN SMITH, NEW YORK TOURIST: We had a storm on July the 22nd, that 100 mile an hour winds that came through and devastated the city pretty much. I was without power for six days, still had to go to work. And I had friends who were without power for 14 days. So it was pretty devastating. And ironically, not many people across the country heard about the destruction.
I think the biggest difference was you understood it more clearly. You could go out and see the trees were down, you saw there were no street lights. So it's an easier concept to grasp when you see it rather than it just happened the way it did here yesterday.
BLITZER: It happened in Memphis, it was rather horrible weather.
SMITH: Oh, yes.
BLITZER: As opposed to here there was presumably some sort of technical glitch.
So then you show up in New York. What are you doing here in New York?
SMITH: I was working. My office is 1166 Avenue of the Americans and we were working and at 4:15, one of the ladies we were working with said, There's something strange going on here because her computer was flickering. And we were working on a project. And the irony of it is, in Memphis you understood immediately. In this office, because of 9/11 and the fact that Marcia (ph) lost many folks, the immediate reaction was, Oh, no, it's happening again.
I think I probably was a little calmer because I was a little bit more removed and was able to call home. So I called home and I have a technical help desk at home said, There's something going on here. Ironically I said, get on CNN and let's see what's on the Internet. But we had -- because of the help desk we knew Morristown was down and we knew some Virginia office was down, so we put it together pretty quickly that it was power outage as opposed to an attack.
BLITZER: Well, Jan Smith, I'm glad everything worked out for you. I don't know where you're going next. Let's hope there's no more power blackouts., wherever your next destination is. Jan Smith, thanks very much for coming to Times Square.
We're following continuing developments here in New York, elsewhere around the country significant problems as a result of the power blackout. Millions of people without power. Millions of people without fuel. Gas stations in many blackout areas were closed because the pumps run on electricity.
In Detroit, people lined up at the few stations that had backup power. Michigan's Governor, Jennifer Granholm, declared a state of emergency and signed an executive order to expedite the delivery of nearly one million gallons of gasoline.
It was business as usual today on the New York Stock Exchange, sort of. Power was restored to the Wall Street area shortly after 6:00 a.m., and New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, was on hand for the opening bell.
Was Wall Street spooked by yesterday's blackout?
Let's check in with CNN's Mary Snow joining us now live from the New York Stock Exchange -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Wall Street was open for business but not much business being done. The major indices just gaining a few points. And this was the slowest trading day of the year.
Today, though, not so much about stocks as symbolism. The chairman of the New York Stock Exchange was determined to get the exchange open today. Crews worked around the night. And also the chairman saying that about 300 people spent the night at the New York Stock Exchange, including Dick Grasso himself. He said he slept on his couch for a little while there.
As you mentioned, power did kick in at 6:00 a.m. But the stock exchange had been prepared to go on a backup generator -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Mary Snow with the latest from the stock exchange open today, open in part to reassure nervous jittery, investors.
We have much more coming up, including an attack that shocked Americans long before September 11. We're going to check some of the other day's important news.
Now there may be some accountability for the bombing of Pan Am 103. That story just ahead.
And also this -- what Iraqis are saying about America's power crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: New York City, it's coming back to normal -- after some 24 hours of major power disruption. You're looking live at the Empire State Building, a building that was dark yesterday at this time. It's coming back to life. Indeed, power being restored to almost all parts of New York City. By now the city bustling. A lot of excited, happy people. The 24-hour crisis seems to have gone without too much of a snag, although there were serious problems, as all of us know.
We'll have much more coming up on the blackout. What happened?
But first let's check other headlines developing right now.
Nearly 15 years after a bomb destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, families of the victims are on track to receive millions in compensation. U.S. officials says Libya has prepared an official letter renouncing terrorism and accepting responsibility for the bombing. A lawyer representing victims' families says each family is likely to receive at least $5 million.
Take look at this. This is not, as far as we know, Saddam Hussein's latest disguise to avoid capture. Instead, it's a trick photograph produced by some U.S. soldiers in Iraq as moral booster. They superimposed Saddam's face on the body of a model. They've hung this photo in one of Saddam's former presidential palaces along with similar trick photos of Saddam as an actress, a cartoon character and, yes, indeed, as Elvis.
There's more information coming out today on the important arrest yesterday, or at least earlier this week, of an al Qaeda leader known as Hambali. Described as a senior al Qaeda strategist, Hambali was arrested in Thailand along with two top lieutenants. CNN national security correspondent David Ensor has details on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Known as Hambali, Malaysian Ridowan Isomudan (ph) was Asia's most wanted man, the operational brains of the al Qaeda of Jamah Islamya group. He was a mastermind of the Bali bombing that killed over 200, say U.S. officials, and of last week's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. He was an organizer of the January 2000 al Qaeda meeting in Kuala Lumpur attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers.
BUSH: He's a known killer. He was a close associate of September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Muhammad.
ENSOR: And the president himself may have been on Hambali's target list. U.S. law enforcement officials say the terrorist leader was captured in Thailand and that there is evidence he may have hoped to organize an attack against the planned meeting there of presidents and prime ministers, the APEC meeting scheduled for October.
Not since the capture five months ago of Khalid Shaikh Muhammad, say U.S. officials, has such a senior figure been captured. Hambali has been moved to another location, U.S. officials say, for interrogation by the CIA. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course he probably does have information about future attacks. What's he going to say? A lot of these these high ranking al Qaeda operatives, you expect them not to be particularly forthcoming, but in fact, U.S. officials say they have been.
BUSH: He is no longer a problem to those of us who love freedom and neither are nearly 2/3 of known senior al Qaeda leaders, operational managers and key facilitators who have been captured or have been killed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Hambali was captured after a struggle in a Muslim neighborhood in Thailand along with two of his top lieutenants. We're told this was done by Thai police cooperating with the Central Intelligent Agency who is now holding and questioning him.
I should mention that although come officials believe there may have been a threat by Hambali and others, that there's evidence of that for the APEC meeting in October, U.S. officials I've spoken to today say they don't have any evidence to back that theory up -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David Ensor with the latest on that important arrest. Thanks, David, very much. When we come back, we'll hear from Iraqis. These are people who have lived with power blackouts for some time. They have advice for all of us. We'll hear what they have to say. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Yesterday's power blackout here in the United States and Canada caused ripples around the world. People watching from all over the place. Of course, in Baghdad as well. No shortage to power blackouts of their own. We went out and spoke to some Iraqis. Here's what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I say, America is a strong country. They'll be able to fix it but they say it's not sabotage and that it's probably from just malfunctioning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We say God help the Iraqis who have suffered long years under the Ba'ath Party and here are Americans after 16 hours of no electricity, running around the streets like crazy people. It's a country that doesn't even have patience for just 16 hours while we have been suffering 35 years. We are just thankful to be alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no electricity in New York and a few other cities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now in America. There's no electricity. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The electricity has been cut off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't believe it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't believe it. America she is big country and rich, rich, people. They have no electricity? No, I don't believe it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Advice from Iraqis on how to deal with blackouts. Here's how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day. Remember, we've been asking you this question, "do you think your community is prepared for a prolonged blackout. Look at this, 62 percent of you say yes, 38 percent of you say no.
As always, we remind you this is not a scientific poll. You can continue to vote, by the way, on our Web site, CNN.com/wolf.
A reminder we're on Monday through Friday, twice a day at noon and 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you Sunday on "LATE EDITION." The last word in Sunday talk. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Times Square in New York, New York.
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