21 years ago Wednesday: 2003 blackout leaves 50M without power [Video]

(WXYZ) — Even 21 years later, people remember where they were and how the 2003 blackout affected them in metro Detroit.

There were no street lights, no traffic signals, gas stations open for business were hard to find, and the same with grocery stores.

On Aug. 14, 2003, a tree branch in Ohio fell onto a high-voltage power line, and that outage affected eight states from New York to Canada and Michigan. A software bug failed to re-distribute the overloaded transmission lines.

Related 2017 video report: Where were you for the 2003 blackout?

Where were you for the 16 years ago for the 2003 blackout?

The weather was hot, tempers were flaring, water was a hot commodity with some people fighting over supplies.

People in Metro Detroit, Lansing and Ann Arbor were affected, and that led to crowded stores, packed restaurants, and overbooked hotels.

This was just two years after …