Four years ago, about 40 million Americans and 10 million Canadians plunged into darkness as Northeastern and Midwestern US, as well as Ontario lost electrical power.
BlogTO has a "flashback" article marking the anniversary of the Great Northeast Blackout of 2003 [wiki]:
Something magical and beautiful can be seen in many people's recollections of their experiences during the blackout. It helped many people transcend usual social barriers by breaking down or simply pausing the normal framework of society. It encouraged people to take a step away from rushing from the grocery store to their home to catch a television show and instead engage with their surroundings. [...]
We witnessed people spontaneously directing traffic through intersections around there, something that I've come to realize was pretty widespread.
mom: danny, its that guy
Me: what guy?
mom: al
Me: huh?
mom: you know that guy, al qaeda
i almost died of laughter
Americans tried to blame Canadians, and to this day people from Toronto Hydro boast that they fixed the problem hahaha.
Not two weeks before that, a "derecho" struck us here in Memphis. 1.5 million people had no power for OVER A WEEK; I personally was in the dark for ten days in 90-degree heat (thank god it was a relatively cool week for a Memphis summer). It was a nightmare, but we got ZERO news coverage. Even as nearby as Nashville, the blackout barely rated a back-page mention, even though we were getting federal disaster-relief funds.
Locals who were here call it "Hurricane Elvis": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Elvis