What were the most sensational power outages in history?

On November 9, 1965, the northeastern United States suffered one of the most famous power outages in history, leaving eight northeastern states and as far north as Canada in darkness.

The causes of the April 28, 2025 power outages in Portugal, Spain, and France have not yet been identified, but past events remind us that human error, structural failures, lightning, storms, and even animals are often to blame. The electrical system can indeed be damaged for a variety of reasons, but we're showing you what the most terrifying power outages in our history have been.

The first

When the first and most documented blackout in history began, it was a quarter past five in the afternoon on November 9, 1965. The first city to go dark was Boston, then New York City was left without electricity, and so on, hundreds of other urban centers spread across eight northeastern states and the Canadian state of Ontario. In just 12 minutes, a series of faults that began at the Sir Adam Beck hydroelectric plant in Canada caused the collapse of the electrical grid, leaving 30 million people in the dark for 13 hours.

The biggest

Aged power grids, a lack of coordination between various interconnected power plants, and the overuse of air conditioners are among the causes that led to the largest power outage in history, specifically on July 31, 2012. Approximately 620 million people, almost 10% of the world's population, were left without electricity in northern India. Stretching from the eastern border with Burma to the western border with Pakistan, and lasting for several days, the megablackout grounded trains, halted subways, created traffic jams, and, in addition to the more obvious domestic inconveniences, trapped 200 miners in a mine in the state of Bengal, who were later rescued.

When it comes from heaven

On the evening of July 13, 1977, a series of lightning strikes struck New York City, striking several structures in succession and causing the electrical system to spin slowly. The Big Apple was on the verge of a severe economic crisis, unemployment was affecting thousands of residents, gangs were taking over several neighborhoods, and a heat wave was plaguing New Yorkers. These ingredients made the city a breeding ground for crime. During the 24 hours that it was without power, there were hundreds of acts of vandalism. At least 1,600 stores were looted, dozens of cars were stolen, and hundreds of fires were set. Officers arrested nearly 4,000 people, so many that there were no free cells in police stations; More than 500 police officers were injured by gunfire. Amazingly, there were no deaths.

Blackout in Italy

Italy has also experienced various power outages, the most impressive of which was recorded on September 28, 2003, when starting at 3:01 a.m., part of Italy was left without electricity. It all started in Switzerland with a fault in an important line connecting the Swiss network to that of Italy. Despite the interventions of the operators and due to a chain of events, at 3:27 the entire territory was plunged into darkness, except for Sardinia and Capri, which have autonomous networks. Trains stopped, airports in chaos, thousands of calls to the 118 number, elevators blocked. After about 20 hours, first in the North and then in the South, the entire peninsula began to shine again. (A2 Televizion)