IN PHOTOS: Remembering the great blackout of 1965 that plunged 30 million into darkness

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In this November 9, 1965, file photo, the darkened Boston skyline is lit only by the full moon during a massive power failure that blacked out many sections of the northeast and parts of Canada. Photo: AP

Published: 9:53am, 9 Nov 2015

Within minutes, 30 million people were in the dark. A power failure originating at a Canadian station near Niagara Falls spread the evening of November 9, 1965, leaving most of the Northeast US and parts of Canada without power for hours.

At its peak, the outage covered 210,000 sq km. In New York City, the plunge into powerlessness came at 5.27pm, at the height of the evening commute, trapping hundreds of thousands of subway riders in their train cars, stranding others in building elevators, wreaking havoc with traffic and forcing airplanes to divert.

Superintendent of Schools Gerald V. Savage, left, meets by candlelight with the Northvale Board of Education in Northvale, New Jersey , during the 1965 blackout. Photo: AP

Grand Central Station became an ad-hoc bedroom for commuters who couldn't get home. For most of New York City, the brightest light available was that of the moon.

Largely, though, people remained calm, stepping in to help where they could, such as directing traffic. Hospitals were able to use generators to keep functioning. Over the next few hours, power came back — in Canada by 8 pm, upstate New York by 9pm, Massachusetts by 10pm.

New York City waited the longest, with power starting to come back around 3.30am on November 10.