U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for November 9: Lights Out

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

LIGHTS OUT

Profile America — Wednesday, November 9th. At 5:16 pm Eastern time on this date 51 years ago, about 30 minutes after sundown, a fast-moving ripple of deeper darkness spread over much of the northeastern United States and a part of Canada. A mis-set relay in an Ontario power station began a cascade of power grid overloads and disconnects across 80,000 square miles of the U.S. and Canada. The entire states of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts were blacked out. Some 30 million people, including New York City's roughly 7.8 million, were affected for up to 14 hours. Each year, more than 4 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity are generated by U.S. power companies. Over 10,500 establishments produce, transmit and distribute this energy. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources:
Blackout/accessed 9/7/2016: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-great-northeast-blackout 
11/9/1965 New York City sunset/accessed 9/7/2016:  http://www.sunrisesunset.com/usa/New_York.asp 
Area and population affected/accessed 9/7/2016: http://blackout.gmu.edu/events/tl1965.html 
New York City population: http://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/1960_fast_facts.html 
Blackout/page 4/accessed 9/7/2016: http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/2513/2574258/pdfs/E04.5.pdf 
Electricity generation/accessed 9/7/2016: http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec7_5.pdf 
Power generating establishments/NAICS 2211: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2014/00A1//naics~2211 

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu). 

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau