Early to Mid 2000's city-wide blackout

[duvaltilidie]

Does anyone here remember this happening 20 something years ago? I have a hard time finding anything other than a paywall article to FTU's website about it. I was working when it happened, got asked to go get a round of carts, even though I was on the stock crew. As I'm walking inside, I hear horns blaring from the major intersection close by and as I go to walk inside, the inside of the store is running on generator energy and half-lit. The chaos those next few hours included trying to find a way to keep everything in the dairy case from getting warm since there weren't doors on the coolers to 3 pallets of ice selling out in less than 10 minutes. Water, canned goods, it was a disaster unfolding before our eyes. We had to close early that night due to the generator at the time not having the capacity to run all night. When we went to leave, the parking lot was so dark and smart phones with flashlights weren't around then, so we had to rely on actual moon & star light to navigate out. I do remember it coming back on again around 10 pm, I was standing outside with my family and neighbors when the streetlights flickered, then came back to life to roaring cheers from everyone in earshot. Something that was on my mind last night while working and I wanted to come on here and see if anyone remembers specifically what happened. Thanks!

[Charles Hunter]

Is this article behind the TU paywall?  https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/history/2022/04/27/jea-says-protection-device-likely-triggered-jacksonville-blackout/9509677002/

Or this one? https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/history/2022/04/27/jea-power-outages-paralyze-jacksonville-area-blackout/9510427002/

(Editor's note: This story ran in the Florida Times-Union on April 30, 2002.)

Widespread power outages paralyzed most of the First Coast yesterday, shutting down systems from traffic signals to cash registers and leaving more than 100,000 households to face a steamy evening without light or air conditioning.

A series of crises at various JEA facilities, including a transformer fire at the Kennedy Generating Station north of Talleyrand Avenue, forced the utility company to shut down its entire network about 4:30 p.m. Nearly all of JEA's 355,000 customers -- including Duval and parts of Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties -- were blacked out for at least part of the evening. The utility's water systems were also put at risk, and all JEA's customers were told to boil their water, at least through today. Tap water is safe for washing and bathing, officials said, but not for drinking.

[Ken_FSU]

https://cm.jacksonville.com/specialoffer

For $.99 cents, you can read the article AND get 6 months of free access.

[Houseboat Mike]

It was in 2002. April, May, somewhere in that timeline. Traffic was horrendous that day. It happened right around rush hour if I recall.

[jaxjags]

I was on business in JAX from ATL that day. I believe the scenario was something like a fire at the Kennedy Station shut it down. This caused an increased load on the Westside Station and the transmission lines heated and sagged until they grounded on some tress. The load on the system was so high the Northside plant then tripped and most of the city was without power. I ate dinner that night in Camden County.

The most interesting thing was the during this WOKV was reporting that the TV tower near the stadium had collapsed. Interesting day for sure.

[jaxlongtimer]

Hear is the lead on a retrospective article on the 20th anniversary of the outage:

'A perfect storm, electrically:' A blackout 20 years ago shut down almost all of Jacksonville

The lights went out on an otherwise ordinary Monday afternoon in Jacksonville 20 years ago, from office towers downtown to subdivisions in the suburbs. Traffic lights stopped working. Air conditioners shut down. The contents of freezers started melting down. Drivers on empty hunted vainly for a gas station that still worked.

A  series of crises at various JEA facilities forced the city-owned utility to shut down its entire network at about 4:30 p.m. on April 29, 2002.

Nearly all of JEA's 355,000 customers — including those in Duval and parts of Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties — were blacked out for at least part of the evening, up to 12 hours in some cases.

A system-wide shutdown like that hadn't happened since 1977, and at first — given that it was just a little more than seven months after 9/11 — many feared something worse than just a power outage....

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/history/2022/04/28/jacksonville-2002-blackout-shut-down-almost-entire-city/7408592001/

[duvaltilidie]

Wow, you guys are amazing, thanks for all the content! And it definitely takes me back to wondering if something more sinister was going on, due to 9/11 still being so fresh on everyones minds. It's a testament to just how far we've come to have made it 20 years later without this happening again, other than what a hurricane has done.

[jcjohnpaint]

Funny enough, but was living in the northeast at the time and there was a huge blackout in the PA Ny Nj area. Not sure if it was exact same time.