New York Blackout
Siren
The world's largest blackout a few years ago caused thousands of New Yorkers to act out a kind of daily routine An unimaginable character...
The moving subway train slid forward silently for a few meters, then quietly stopped, and all the lights in the subway station were turned off at the same time. It happened in New York on November 6, 1965, and the clock pointed at 5 p.m.
From this moment on, everything powered by electricity in the American metropolis went into shock. Light turns to darkness, movement turns to deadness, sound turns to silence.
The culprit of this huge power outage was a small relay measuring 4 square inches. Its sudden failure caused a sudden "electronic violence" to hit parts of the United States and Canada. New York, on the other hand, provides a wonderful stage for countless unexpected dramas to be staged during the blackout.
Let us fix our sights on New York, from the underground to the ground, from the ground to the air, and take a look at the New Yorkers who were suddenly "blind" in the darkness 22 years ago.
Underground -
More than 500,000 people are trapped in subways and subway cars. 600 subway cars were blocked. In the dark world that lasted for tens of hours, what did the passengers do to pass the time?
In one carriage, a passenger led everyone to sing a Capoli ditty and beat time with his hands. When the flight attendant arrived in the dark and led them through a safety well to the ground, the chorus developed into Dance, people gathered on the ground and danced in pairs, unwilling to leave for a long time.
In another carriage, a woman suddenly fainted, and the news spread from one person to another until snuff was found from someone, which was immediately and accurately passed on by one hand. Arriving at the unconscious woman.
In another carriage, a unique "dinner party" was being held in the dark: people who had been trapped for a long time took out all the edible things in their pockets and enjoyed them. . Peanuts, wild cherry candies, assorted candies, even antacid tablets. The rare delicacies were donut rings and Italian sausage. Everyone was worried about not being able to find a knife, so one person took out his nail clipper and cut the sausages piece by piece. In the middle of the night, when the transportation authorities delivered food to the people who had not yet been rescued, they saw a touching scene of people sleeping leaning on each other.
In an underground railway station, a group of people holding hands, led by a woman, successfully found the exit. Many people thought that the woman who led the way had the extraordinary ability to discern directions in the dark - but they did not expect that this woman who often took the New York subway was blind and the darkness posed no threat to her at all.
Afterwards, a housewife who stayed in the subway train for six hours said: "I didn't expect New Yorkers to be like this at all. I mean, everyone seems to have lost their temper. "
Ground -
Because the power outage happened at the busiest time, the transportation authority drove out 3,500 of the 4,000 buses, and there was still no traffic. Reduce stress. As a result, countless people walked across the bridge or walked onto the avenue to go home, looking like a "city marathon" crowded with too many participants.
An elderly woman timidly stopped when she wanted to pass through No. 5 Street. Four people immediately volunteered to escort her. At the same time, a beggar on the street continued to ask her questions. Stop pedestrians from begging.
When darkness completely enveloped the entire New York, a bold gangster robbed an antique store selling rare ancient coins in a grand manner under the only candlelight in the store - that night, about 100 people Shop windows were smashed, some 41 looters were arrested, 12 shops were robbed, and 85 people were arrested for robbery, theft or assault.
However, New York City Police Commissioner Broderick said: The total number of arrests for crimes that night was only 25% of the usual night crimes. In addition, there were only 32 car accidents that caused injuries and 45 car accidents that caused damage—— This is happening in the largest city in the world with absolutely no traffic lights!
In some stores, each candle sold for $1.50, and the price of flashlights also surged several times higher than usual. The power outage brought unexpected benefits to these shop owners. However, there were fewer people acting like capitalists and more capitalists acting like people. Marcy hosted 5,000 customers and employees that night—inviting everyone to stop in and offering coffee, sandwiches, and cookies; Bloomingdales opened its doors to stayers free of charge. Furniture Department - A woman spent the night sleeping on an $800 couch. The culmination of this act of generosity was that the next morning, the store clerk served everyone free breakfast. According to statistics, that night, 40 people slept peacefully in the showroom of the world-famous "Simmons" premium bedding company.