McGraw-Hill Construction | ENR - BlackOut Personal Stories

Where Were You When the '03 Blackout Hit?
Stories from ENR in New York City

Compiled and edited by Judy Schriener

ENR staff members in New York City number about 50. We've asked some of them plus some other McGraw-Hill Construction colleagues to tell their stories of where they were when the biggest power blackout in history occurred.

Photo by Tom Sawyer for ENR

Andrew G. Wright Managing Senior Editor, Design & Construction ENR I had a dental appointment on 53rd St and Madison Ave. that finished just before 4 p.m. It was a beautiful day and rather than go immediately down into the hot subway, I decided to walk across to the West Side to . . .	Sue Pearsall Associate Art Director ENR, Design-Build I had just left the office to meet my friend Ana for a run. I just got off the express A train at 59th St. and 8th Ave. (about a mile north of our office at 2 Penn Plaza) and was waiting for the local train when the lights flickered. Then . . .	Nancy Soulliard Associate Art Director ENR My husband, Erik, walked 29 blocks downtown to my building and met me at the door. We had to figure out how to get back to New Jersey. Normally, we take the PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson) train to . . .

Tom Armistead Associate Editor, Power and Industrial ENR The power failed just as I was heading out the door to catch the 4:41 p.m. train to New Haven, Conn., at Grand Central Station. I thought it probably was a local outage, so I didn't hesitate . . .	Mark Kent VP of Content Management McGraw-Hill Construction I am based in our Hightstown, N.J., office, in the New York City office a couple of days a week. I'd spent the night before in Manhattan after being out late at a vendor dinner in the city and was supposed to . . .	Grace Alicea Editorial/Research Assistant ENR I was vacationing in Myrtle Beach, S.C., during the blackout (wow, what luck). I did hear about the blackout on CNN (the hotel I stayed in had CNN on all TV monitors). I tried getting in touch with my brother and sister who live in the city . . .

Jan Tuchman Editor-in-Chief ENR I left Two Penn Plaza at about 6:30 p.m. on Blackout Evening with three other ENR editors -- Joann Gonchar, Barbara Nathaniel and Tom Sawyer. We all live in Brooklyn and our strategy was to . . .	Jarrett Hettena Account Manager ENR It is a little after 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14, and I am sitting at my desk at 2 Penn Plaza in New York City, sending an e-mail to a client. All of a sudden, my computer shuts down and all the lights in the building go off . . .	Sheila Pantuliano Executive Assistant McGraw-Hill Construction Publications I was sitting at my desk typing an email when my computer went down and the lights went off. I reached into the filing cabinet above my head to . . .

Janet Kennedy Director, Inside Sales ENR When the power went out in 2 Penn Plaza at about 4:15 p.m., at first we all thought it was an isolated incident and we would soon be back in business. Several of us in the same area started phoning friends and family and started to hear . . .	Aileen Cho Associate Editor ENR When my computer abruptly blinked off, along with the office lights, my first thought was unfortunately of 9/11. A vague apprehension followed by a spate of morbid scenarios flashed through my head in the minute or so before . . .	Crystal Evans Receptionist McGraw-Hill Construction I was across the hall talking to one of the girls in the back, when the lights went out. First thing I did was call Security to see what was going on. When they told me they didn't know, I . . .

Guy Lawrence Art Director ENR My Blackout: After the power went down, I settled in to wait it out in my office. Unfortunately, after listening to McGraw-Hill people telling us to ignore the building's calls to leave the building, we were thrown . . .	Virginia J. Camasca Production Editor ENR/Design Build I was on the phone with my friend Cristina Hernandez, who works for Merrill Lynch across the river in Jersey City, N.J. Needless to say, we were both surprised because the power went out simultaneously and . . .	Barbara Nathaniel Products Editor ENR When the power went out at 2 Penn Plaza and throughout the New York area, I didn't know what to do. I first panicked in my own quiet way, then I tried to see who lived in Brooklyn and if they would eventually make an attempt . . .

Joan Notaris Sales Assistant ENR I was typing up an e-mail to the sales staff when the lights went out and my computer went black. I stepped out of my cubicle to see what was going on. I saw people holding their emergency evacuation kits . . .	Gary Tulacz Senior Editor ENR I ended up at the McGraw-Hill building at 1221 6th Ave. with quite a few McGraw-Hill Construction people. The company fed us and allowed us to stay over in the McGraw-Hill auditorium on the second floor which . . .	Judy Schriener Editor-in-Chief Construction.com As I was pulling together these stories of where McGraw-Hill Construction staffers were when the power went out, I had mixed feelings about missing this adventure. I was . . .

Rona Nadi Wafajow Editorial Assistant, Costs ENR It was about 4:10 p.m. that I decided to go home since I start work at 8:30 a.m. and catch the 4:19 train to Huntington, Long Island. By the time I got downstairs, I realized that everywhere was dark. At first I thought . . .	Scott Lewis Director of Editorial Research ENR/Design-Build I had my daughter Eva with me at work, so this . . .

RELATED STORY: Escape from Manhattan: The Sequel (archrecord.construction.com)
Most staff photos by Judy Schriener Photo of Jan Tuchman et al by Tom Sawyer Photo of Judy Schriener by Andrew G. Wright