Blackout Power Affected People United Caused States Northeastern

The two most "notable" (important and worth noticing or talking about) blackouts in the United States "occurred" (happened) in the northeastern part of the country and affected millions of people.

The northeast blackout of 1965 affected more than 30 million people over an 80,000-square mile area extending into Ontario, Canada and much of the northeastern part of the United States. Some people were left "in the dark" (without electricity) for as much as 12 hours. The blackout was caused a few days earlier, when workers had "installed" (put in place) a safety device incorrectly. As a result, the "power line" (cable) with that safety device was incorrectly "disabled" (changed so it no longer worked) and the demand for power was "shifted" (moved) to other lines, which were then overloaded and also became disabled.

The northeast blackout of 2003 occurred in mostly the same area, but it affected about 55 million people. For most of the affected "population" (group of people), power was restored between seven and 16 hours after the blackout had begun. "Initially" (at first), some people "feared" (were worried that) the blackout was due to "terrorism" (coordinated efforts to scare people by harming or killing civilians), but soon it was clear that the blackout had been caused by a power surge that affected the power grid. The power surge was "attributed to" (thought to have been caused by) high electrical demand due to the use of air conditioning equipment and fans on a hot August day.

Many people have "pointed to" (emphasized as an example) these and other blackouts as "evidence" (proof; something showing that something else is true) that the United States has an "outdated" (not modern) power grid that needs to be "updated" (improved).