Where were you and what did you do when the lights went out in Cleveland 5 years ago?

Question

I was hangout with my friend that day we went to see Chicago at the dollar show and then went to lunch after wards at Applebees in Univ. Hts. we were sooo d**n happy that we paid cash because they were not letting people leave who were paying by credit card. Then we went to pick up her sister and then we went to the lake to cool off.

Did you think it was a terrorist attack? I know a lot of people did.

Answer 1

In Southpark Mall - Waldenbooks - I was in line to pay for some books. Certainly the talk was that there was games being played to knockout the power. What was amazing - though - was Gov. Bob Taft was vacationing in Canada and never returned to the state during the emergency. It demonstrated his priorities....and his wanting to be in a place with electricity.

Answer 2

I was Downtown in the City Year Cleveland office waiting for new corps members to come for a luau.  When the lights went out, we tried to catch some before they arrived to cancel, but we had many that were already on there way so we waited for them, set up candles and sternos for the food, and had a party.  At first we thought that it was just our building and didn't know that it had hit everyone until later that night.  All in all it was a good experience. Not many can say they had a party duing a blackout :)

Answer 3

I don't even remember it.  Isn't that horrible?!  ha ha

Guess probably at home in Twinsburg or at work in Independence or out on my bicycle or motorcycle!

Answer 4

I was at home, but it was so dark inside that we went outside, and we hooked up a tv to the car's cigarette lighter, and turned on the news, and then we lit candles and put them all up the driveway, and one at a time, the neighbors all started coming to our house, because we had light and TV, we played basketball in the dark with a bunch of people. and then my dad went and bought a generator the next day, in case that happens again ;)

Answer 5

I was working the evening shift for the city of Willoughby. I was the only one on duty in the service department and ended up running all over the city puting up emergency generators at major intersections to control the red lights. Had people stopping me since I was in a city vehicle and yelling at me to do something about the situation. Was the longest night of my life. Just a good thing it happened in good weather and not the middle of winter.

Answer 6

i was in maine.

Answer 7

shooting some hoops at a friends. Once the power was out turned the car radio on to hear about it and took the parkway to get home, no stoplights. Then across strongsville to a buddies place by brunswick which for some reason still had power.  

Answer 8

I was at work at my factory in Berea, OH and couldn't call my boss since the phones also went down.  I had forgotten my cell phone at home because it was recharging.  So I closed up the factory after talking with others in the area, still thinking it was localized) and drove home to get my cell.  Then I went to my local bar and we enjoyed beer with candlelight until it got too warm to drink (and paid cash).

The next day I drove to the factory still thinking it had to be a localized outage so there might be power there even though I didn't have any at home.  I finally could get a cell phone signal to call my boss.  We left it that one of us would get in touch with the other once we had power and go from there.  I went home, but bought a bag of ice and batteries on the way.  Opened my refrigerator and freezer once to get out some food to go in a cooler.  Since I had a grill outside and a manual can opener, I was all set.  A neighbor worried the most about not having an opener for her dog's food!  So I loaned her one of mine.  A group of us sat in the backyard in the shade and then cooked dinner in the early evening.  I had taken my boom box home from the factory that also works on batteries so we could catch the news about the outage and listen to music.

I never thought about it being terrorists because I thought it was localized to SW Cuyahoga County.  By the time I had my radio the next day, I heard some people talking about that theory but that it was already known to be First Energy's fault!

Answer 9

I was in the shower i had just gotten home from work and i thought my bf at the time was messing with me by turning the light off. well he comes flying in there to ask if i paid that months electric bill.

I did so i finished up and went outside and saw all my neighbors out and about so i thought ok no biggie a power outage we have them alot in the summer anyway so i didnt think anythign of it right away.

My bf was running round saying things about terrorists and such i left and went to the gas station they add stuff up with an adding machine when the power goes out (told u it happnes alot) got some ice, snacks and some batteries.

My bf got a call from work asking if he could drive a part to some airport in kentucky so I stayed home because we had 2 new puppies they were about 9 weeks old at the time so he left i unhooked the cordless phone and plugged in the landline so id have a phone.

I went outside in the back garden and enjoyed the peace and quiet (no humm of electricity) played with the pupps filled the baby pool up for them to splash in and talked on the phone

when it got too late to stay outside (i still didnt know if id have to work the next day or not) i took the pups in and lit candles and read a book i had so many candles lit if you went outside it looked like i had power in one room anyway lol

The power came on around 10 am the next morning. I ended up having a partial day at work long enough to make a deposit then go home.

It was actually quite nice and peaceful I almost wish it would happen again except maybe in the fall when its not so hot because it was hot hot hot that night. I remember making a little fan out of a paper plate and a popsicle stick.

Answer 10

omg, i was on my way home from work. i lived in cleveland on west 111th, i drove from cleveland to strongsville to work. i remember getting back into cleveland and stopping at a gas station to get gas. the electricity had gone out when i was trying to pay for gas. i thought my god they forgot to pay their electric bill. i got back into my car to leave and wasnt to long i realized there was no power anywhere. i remember people screaming out of car windows saying it was the end of the world. freaked me out.  

Answer 11

My friend was baby-sitting another friend's little girl that weekend, so she and I were driving back from Alliance to Elyria with the kid. As we got closer to "civilization" we noticed that traffic was horrible. We turned on the radio and found out power was out basically everywhere. We didn't really get a chance to discuss it because of the little one.

We were supposed to go to the zoo the next day but were not sure if it was open so we went to the Lake COunty Fair instead, because it had generators. My friend's power came back on that night sometime, but it wasn't until the next day or even the one after that the power came on at my house.  

Answer 12

At Home Bore As h**l And Hot As h**l Harassing People Walking Around Like It Was Still Day Time.... I Was Sure Glad When They Turned Back On!!! Yeah I Thought It Was A Terrorist Attack!

Answer 13

I was off on Warner Rd. By turney deli

They were giving us free water and icecream

Then we ended up going swimming at the rec center on 116th and kinsman wow I was so young!! I was 17 almost 18.

This is a good question!

Answer 14

This is one of the best questions I've seen in awhile!!!

I was working in an antiques auction house on the east side, doing an internship and my dad came to pick me up. He says to me, "Well, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that I'm here. The bad news is that I'm on empty"

So we had to drive all the way back to the west side, on empty. We probably made it home on fumes, I was for sure the car was going to run out of gas on the way home.

Once I got home, I played Monopoly and Clue on the backporch by candlelight with my brother and sister. The next day the power was still out at our house, but over at Avon Commons the power was back on, so I went shopping to just enjoy the air conditioning. I remember it being really hot right around then.

Answer 15

I was in Union City California