The Northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada, on Thursday, August 14, 2003, just before 4:10 p.m. EDT (UTC-04). While some power was restored by 11 p.m., many did not get power back until 8 a.m. the next day. At the time, it was the second most widespread blackout in history, after the 1999 Southern Brazil blackout. The blackout affected an estimated 10 million people in Ontario and 45 million people in eight U.S. states. Read more