On Wednesday, July 13, 1977, a series of lightning struck on the power lines and infrastructure led to a cascade of shutdowns, power failures, and overloads. The entire Con Edison system powering New York City shut down completely. Traffic lights went dark, elevators stalled, subways ground to halt. The Mets-Cubs game at Shea stadium ended in the bottom of the sixth inning.
No sooner had the power gone out than the looting and arson began. Over a thousand fires were reported, and more than 1,600 stores damaged or ransacked. In just 24 hours, more than $300 million of the property had been damaged. Looters grabbed whatever they could get their hands on, such as vehicles, furniture, food, clothes, and several other things. The sweltering streets became a battleground where several people were mugging even the looters. Power was slowly restored over the next day, with the entire city online by 10:39 p.m. The city was left without power for 25 hours. The police arrested over 3,700 people involved in looting and damaging properties.
The chaos was a marked contrast to the “can-do” attitude of New Yorkers in the previous great blackout of 1965. Despite the prevalent mood of panic, many did spring into action, helping neighbors in need, directing traffic, and trying to keep the peace.
The following photos show what happened during and after the blackout of 1977.
