The blackout cascaded from its point of origin -- determined by a task force to be high voltage lines in Summit County -- across seven other states and part of Ontario.
The August 14 outage darkened homes and businesses in eight states and parts of Canada. It was the nation's worst blackout and affected 50 million people. U.S. and Canadian investigators focused on failures of a power plant and lines owned by Akron-based FirstEnergy. FirstEnergy owns electric utilities serving customers from Ohio to New Jersey.
Some people were left without power in the sweltering August heat for up to four days. In Cleveland, many were also without water after power was lost at treatment facilities.
Damages from the blackout are estimated by some to run as high as $10 billion.
Anyone who lived through it remembers where they were when it started and how they lived through those days without electricity.
The jail director at the Cuyahoga County Jail said. back then that the August 14 blackout in the jail made for what he calls the scariest night in his 31-year career.
The Cuyahoga County jail had 1,900 inmates. During the blackout, the windowless cells became so hot that some inmates passed out.
The 70 guards working that night had to dial phones and find keyholes by feel because it was so dark. It took nine hours to get a contractor to deliver a backup generator.
