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Broadcast Date: Nov. 9, 1965

The great blackout of 1965 begins at 5:16 p.m. Eastern Time with a failure in a single power relay near Niagara Falls. Within minutes the entire power grid in northeastern Canada and the United States shuts down, plunging 30 million people into darkness. The blackout leaves most of eastern Ontario without power. In the United States, New York City grinds to a halt, as do cities across New England. Some 207,000 square kilometres have no power.

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• The 1965 blackout began near Niagara Falls, on the Ontario-New York border. At 5:16 p.m. a single transmission line relay leading from the giant Sir Adam Beck No. 2 Generating Station at Queenston, Ont. failed. The resulting power grid overload caused generators to shut down. Within seconds, the 31 interconnected power utilities of CANUSE (Canada-United States Eastern Grid) separated into isolated "islands" and then went dead.

• The blackout affected much of Ontario, from Timmins in the north, to Cornwall in the east and Sarnia in the south. In the United States it shut down much of New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
• In Ontario, most of the power returned after three hours. But some areas were without electricity for as long as 13 hours.

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Medium: Radio

Program: CBC Radio News Special

Broadcast Date: Nov. 9, 1965

Guest(s): Dennis Dack

Host: John O'Leary
Reporter: Brian O'Brien

Duration: 3:47

Last updated:
Aug. 18, 2003