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March
13, 1989 - The Quebec Blackout Storm
- Most
newspapers that reported this event considered the spectacular aurora
to be the most newsworthy aspect of the storm. Seen as far south
as Florida and Cuba, the vast majority of people in the Northern
Hemisphere had never seen such a spectacle in recent memory. Electrical
ground currents created by the magnetic storm found their way into
the power grid of the Hydro-Quebec Power Authority and the entire
Quebec power grid collapsed. Six million people were affected as
they woke to find no electricity to see them through a cold Quebec
wintry night. This storm could easily have been a $6 billion catastrophe
affecting most US East Coast cities.
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