US: A massive power outage swept across swaths of the eastern United States and Canada yesterday evening, leaving sections of New York City, Detroit, Cleveland and Toronto without electricity, witnesses said.
Subways in New York came to a complete halt, and power was out at all three of the New York area's major airports and Detroit's airport.
Commuter train services also came to a halt, and cellular telephone service was disrupted. Thousands of commuters were trapped in dark underground trains. Many more people were seen walking home on New York's streets.
The power cut was thought to be due to a major power transformer shutting down and not thought to be terrorist related.
A New York State official said the Niagara Mohawk power grid overloaded yesterday, causing a massive power outage, CNN reported, and New York Mayor Mr Michael Bloomberg said it was likely a natural occurrence.
"It may be well into the evening before power comes back on," Mr Bloomberg said.
He said smoke from a Consolidated Edison Inc. plant in the city was due to the plant's automatic shutdown, not to a fire, as had been reported.
He said, "I can tell you 100 percent sure that there is no evidence as of this moment whatsoever of any terrorism."
The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Forked River, New Jersey was not functioning, according to people familiar with the plant's operation.
New York Port Authority Police said the power outage had crippled the New York region.
"Right now the power outage is affecting all of our operations, We have no buses, no trains, no subways running. The airports have their perimeters secured," a spokesman for the Port Authority said.
The dollar slipped against the euro and the yen in choppy trading after the power outages struck. Shortly after 4 p.m. local time the dollar moved lower, with the euro rising to $1.1286 from around $1.1245 just before the power went out in Times Square, New York. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 118.90 yen from around 119.10 yen prior to the blackout.
Backup generators enabled some investment banks' forex desks to continue trading. At Barclays Capital in New York, one global market strategist said trading systems were still functioning in spite of the power outage.