New York, Aug 15: The biggest power outage in North American history blacked out New York and other major US and Canadian cities on Friday, leaving millions of people in the dark and forcing thousands of stranded commuters to sleep in the streets of Manhattan. As the lights went out on Broadway, officials ruled out sabotage, but could not agree on the cause of the blackout.
"The one thing I can say for certain is that this was not a terrorist act," US President George W. Bush told reporters.
The power grid failure spread as far as Detroit and Cleveland, and across the Canadian border to Toronto and Ottawa.

In New York, the blackout trapped thousands in crowded subways, forced millions of evacuated office workers onto the streets, darkened Broadway and hit late trading on US financial markets.
It briefly closed the city's three main airports and jangled nerves among New Yorkers whose memories of the airliner hijacking attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are still raw. People could be seen running through the city's downtown financial district.
Authorities reported few blackout related incidents, but there was sporadic looting in Brooklyn, with 20 people arrested after breaking into a shoe store, five arrested for looting an equipment rental center and one for breaking into a phone store, police said.
In midtown Manhattan, ordinarily as bright and garish as a carnival, streets were pitch black and eerily quiet, despite huge crowds fruitlessly seeking shelter.
Many people were stranded without lodging and forced to make beds of newspaper, cardboard or clothing and camp out on sidewalks, office building foyers, park lawns and parking garages. Near Grand Central station, commuters slept on the sidewalk, their heads on their briefcases. Bureau Report