Teen Survives 7,200-Volt Electrocution, Tragically Dies When The Power Turns Off

Kamikoto is now running a Black Friday Sale and is offering my viewers an extra USD50 off on any purchase with discount code BREW50, on top of our special offers. Go to kamikoto.com/BREW50 to get your knives set and help support our channel
Lewis Wheelan got seriously injured trying to maintain power lines. Electricity nearly killed him, and thanks to modern medical technology, electricity was able to save him as well. Then, on August 14th 2003, in a matter of minutes, 50 million people were without power, and in some areas, it wouldn’t come back for days.
The Northeast blackout of 2003 was the biggest blackout in US history. At the end of the disaster, almost 100 people lost their lives, and for Lewis, it was just the beginning of the end. Let’s get into it!
For more videos with medical head scratchers, weird historical incidents, unsolved mysteries, myths debunked, and science explained, please subscribe to our channel! kzbin.info?...
Sources:
[Lewis Wheelan]
www.ontariotenants.ca/electric...
[How Did the 2003 Power Outage Happen?]
practical.engineering/blog/20...
[How to Prepare for a Potential Blackout]
www.getprepared.gc.ca/cnt/rsr...
learn.eartheasy.com/articles/...
www.familyhandyman.com/articl...
[Carbon Monoxide Poisoning]
• How Reddit Saved a Man...
[Utility Maintenance]
www.sightline.org/2020/05/18/...
Other Sources:
• Man destroys computer
• Fix it! Fix it! Fix it...
• Capacitor Bank in Subs...
• Why matter expands whe...
www.researchgate.net/figure/T...
www.vecteezy.com/vector-art/1...
[Brew’s intro song]
Manhattan Twist by Avocado Junkie
[Music Licensing]
Code: NHBKVBBCPE1WGK2A, IIT72ETRWISPIV82, MVNWYTI1NL4WS123, AEULUSY97GDQDOYG, D02UL6PHAXI5PJ8U, 0Y7RA0MSU4WYQUUS, CHSUGXQPFOTTSMBU, EMXSMNUEKA1IPB0S, GI4ZJJC4DTUVNNJ5

[@Brew]

Thanks to Kamikoto for sponsoring this episode! Go to kamikoto.com/BREW50 to get your Japanese steel knives today, and get an extra USD50 off with code BREW50

[@atomiclupine3680]

Yay!

[@user-zl4dg5fg2o]

Thanks for the entertaining content

[@GrizzFlips]

Yo

[@pix-dot]

Hi

[@evilducky513]

Hi brew good day😃

[@m0nsterjojo6821]

As someone who lives in Southern Ontario, when we have to do our yearly safety and the like, he IS the most used example on safety and why we put so many fail safes into action.

[@nicolethompson2399]

Out of curiosity, in these examples, do they tell the whole background?

[@tylern6420]

And what do they do if wood falls onto the lines?

[@m0nsterjojo6821]

@@tylern6420 IDK, I ain't apart of that industry.

[@monkeyf]

As someone who lives in ohio i can confirm what he is confirming

[@kyrab7914]

Yearly safety?

[@livenotonevil8279]

This will be, forever, a current event

[@no_handle_sadly]

Pun intended

[@aaronhoward7593]

so shocking

[@Namgib09]

Naa Don’t do him dirty like that

[@user-br4hf6qc5y]

It's happening????? CURRENTLY????

[@sanboxal]

Pun of da video

[@Soooooooooooonicable]

This guy was SO unlucky. Sounds like he had so much potential but it was all wasted because of freak accidents.

[@Gatorade69]

Sad.

[@Listrynne]

I can't help but admire your (likely unintentional) pun as I agree with you.

[@Hampus_006]

I think his death could easily have been avoided. They knew his condition and never drawn the conclusion that he could overheat in an apartment without a working AC. But yeah, that accident is not something that happens every day.

[@Mario87456]

@@Hampus_006 It was better that he kicked the bucket considering that he was living a fate worse then death.

[@RobR386]

Yeah potential difference, that's what led to the accident, take care around transmission lines, you don't have to come into contact to get a shock.

[@maries7953]

My mother passed away due to power outage. During that time, the machine supplying oxygen to her where i have it at home stopped operating for 30mins. She had terminal lung cancer and that caused insufficient oxygen…. She ultimately succumbed to it. 😢

[@tenaciouszebra5691]

I’m sorry for your loss. It’s truly awful. I hope you’re doing okay

[@Panda-cute]

I am so sorry you lost her in such a terrible way. Nobody should have to experience that

[@maries7953]

@@tenaciouszebra5691 It took me 3 years to start overcome the grief but I’m doing better now. Thank you for the kind words.

[@maries7953]

@@Panda-cute it was tough but at least i managed to tell her i love her before she breathed her last…

[@Dragonfury3000]

Sorry for your loss I hope you can move on from that pain.

[@stellarumbrella8801]

In case anyone is wondering why he needed the AC to live its because skin grafts meant he could not sweat.

[@KatieBellino]

I figured that was it.

[@nehemialalang7878]

What happen if he sweat? I really-really want to know, Please don't just answer is dead.

[@furens-aru]

@@nehemialalang7878 i think he couldnt sweat as in physically incapable to sweat. Sweating is crucial to cool down your body, hence the needs of AC.

[@Inksanity]

@@nehemialalang7878 Sometimes you lose your sweat glands when you get large skin grafts. His body literally could not produce sweat.

[@stellarumbrella8801]

@@nehemialalang7878 Sweating cools the body down. He couldn't sweat so he overheated and then dead.

[@jayn3636]

Man, risking your life for $10 an hour and then losing both your legs and an arm because of it due to a very unlucky event. Rest In Peace to this man, he deserved better.

[@michaelbujaki2462]

$10 an hour was a good starting wage back then; the minimum wage was only $7.50 per hour.

[@jayall00]

he shouldnt have risked his life then

[@DiamondsRexpensive]

Incidents like those make you question reality

[@Noodles410]

@@michaelbujaki2462 still is

[@gpt-jcommentbot4759]

@@michaelbujaki2462 is it worth ur ife though?

[@PMG.2]

Ahhh yes, the blackout. I remember that time fondly as a kid. Living for multiple days without power was certainly an experience. Cooking peameal back bacon over the firepit outside as a young boy was a core memory - something I cannot forget. My condolences to the Wheelan family that had to endure that loss.

[@MichikoHoshi]

You remember it fondly as a kid, I remember it fondly as the Texas winter storm of 2021, a month after I moved here lol. Thank god I brought my winter coat when I left Chicago.

[@Gatorade69]

It's always good to have some coats/blankets and some way to cook food like a camping stove and a propane heater. I live in rural Washington and last year the winter storm knocked the power out for 5 days. Good thing I had blankets, a camping stove and a propane heater.

[@roseblite6449]

@@MichikoHoshi You can blame Biden's DOE (Department Of Energy) for that one. They required Texas to keep a certain amount of Green Energy powering Texas grid, additional coal, natural gas, etc. generators were not allowed to be put online in preparation for the storm, and additional power from other grids to be used instead at a premium. Thus when the Green Energy (solar/wind generated) failed it was only a matter of time till overloaded transmission lines started failing, the cold and ice didn't help matters either.

[@severec0bra672]

WHY DONT THEY HAVE GAUGES TOO STOP RELYING AN COMPUTERS HAVE BACKUPS.

[@davidstrider147]

I was seven in one of those states and I don’t remember this at all

[@Matoro-nz9ft]

My grandfather went through a similar incident. Before I was born, he had parked under a power line that had been scraped bare from tree brush. The power line sagged, touching his vehicle, and when he touched it- he exploded. He lost both of his arms, and nearly all of the skin on his body. On the way to the E.R. he died twice, and then died a third time in the E.R. Fortunately with a lot of care, he lives to this day, with a prosthetic hook arm to help him get through his daily tasks! He also overcame the emotion caused by the incident and jokes about it, as well as lives a happy life! :) If you're curious, he also used to be a wrestler by the name of Rusty Roberts! Unfortunately, due to this incident, he is no longer able to pursue this career. However, he still shares exciting memories from the high points of his career.

[@NzLes]

what do you mean by "he died twice, and then died a third time"

[@PJ183]

@@NzLes He blacked out three times, is prob what he meant

[@downhomesunset]

@@PJ183 his heart stopped

[@gamerboy6787]

Please, please tell me your grandpa was adequately compensated for his life-altering injuries. Did he sue?

[@zealotgamez7796]

@@NzLeshis heart stopped thrice, I assume

[@Mii4210]

I live in Northeast Ohio. I was 7 years old in 2003, and I still remember that blackout vividly. I’ll never forget it for as long as I live. We were without power for days, and seeing Downtown Cleveland completely dark with the exception of a few streetlights running on backup power was insane. We lost most of our food in the house, and a takeout restaurant that had backup power was all we ate until the power was restored. However I had no idea that it was in multiple states. I hope this never happens again

[@PupleKoolAidInDaHood]

only in ohio 💀

[@Zathylol]

@@PupleKoolAidInDaHood ong

[@NCGDEDITChannel]

Yoo Ohio

[@RozeLight]

I was born in 2008, so I’d have to ask my mom about the event

[@RozeLight]

And hey, on the bright side, at least at night, you could see the stars a lot better thanks to the lack of light pollution

[@nekomasteryoutube3232]

Thankfully I was in a situation as a kid in the Greater Toronto Area that the blackout didn't harm me or my family, but it really sucks that so many people where effected by the 2003 blackout, some more so than others like buddy here. While for many this was just a major inconvinece, for a chunk of people this was a death sentance.

[@imjustnia1692]

omg I remember that

[@endless3cho]

It's crazy how antiquated our electric grid is in this nation. We could completely harden it against attacks and plenty of issues like a huge blackout across multiple states. Sadly, our government won't work on something as important as our power and our reliability on it.

[@Foxfire-xq5ij]

And even if our government did work on it, like everything they do, it would be done poorly and expensively and inefficiently…..

[@Piant_Genis]

knowing our government, they'd pay it all to some union, and the union boss just pockets all the money and nothing gets done. Happens all the time

[@shrimp1429]

@@Piant_Genis As if unions are the issue

[@robertbarrows6687]

We've tried. At least Democratic led governments had.

[@agustinreynaga9723]

The problem is it cost lots of money to do that and I doubt people want to pay more on their electric bills

[@kimvanderlinden1842]

This is so sad... I can't believe no one immediately went to him when the power outage accured. Wouldn't they know the airconditioning would be off and they KNOW he needs that to survive...

[@triggeredcat120]

So that was the source of the power outage…. I remember that. So sorry that he had to go through that, and those who passed from the outage.

[@monad_tcp]

The guy cutting a tree in a hot day where he shouldn't have. Good intentions... I'm kidding, it was not that, it was the heat.

[@budgerigarer]

@@monad_tcp it was a software bug

[@kosherre6243]

Why be sorry? You're not involved, *are you?*

[@triggeredcat120]

@@kosherre6243 As in being sorry or having some sympathy for those who went through it. You clearly missed it.

[@kosherre6243]

@@triggeredcat120 i see. Sorry, I never really understood why people used a term for apologies for something they've never committed.

[@aurondoxon3805]

I'm curious why was he left alone in his apartment for so long? With someone that severe of a disability and risk of overheating you'd think he'd have a caretaker on standby to check on him regularly.

[@the_kombinator]

If you think the healthcare system was bad then, well, 20 years on it's predictably worse.

[@ayajade6683]

He also could have gotten a generator for free due to his condition and a free swamp cooler

[@SuperLordHawHaw]

What he should've had was a backup system. And why wasn't he living with his family?

[@tjorvegro9651]

In Germany most of our power lines are under ground. The only power lines that are not buried are the high voltage lines. They are really high and there are no trees under it (if it crosses a forest, a line of trees will be removed to make space). This helps to prevent problems like that.(ok in small areas there are some over ground lines that are not high voltage but these are not really common and don't supply huge areas). Also having an AC in Germany isn't that common. Stores have it but most homes don't

[@tjorvegro9651]

@Uncle Hoax wir AC I mean air conditioning.

[@ReyOfLight]

It’s the same in Sweden. Hardly any lines above ground these days other than the very big high power lines, and like Germany, they’re without trees around them to prevent any branches from getting onto the lines. I honestly can’t even remember when I last saw a power line except for the one above the railroad 🤔 And like Germany, air conditioning isn’t all that common here except for in stores and public buildings. Some people have it in their homes if they live in a single family house, but it’s just not a thing in apartment buildings. I live in an apartment and just have a floor fan, all I need in summertime even on really hot days. Our houses are built both to keep warm in winter and cool in summer thanks to good insulation

[@CreativeWM_Personal]

Powerlines should never be built above trees to begin with, it should be standard procedure to chop down all trees in areas where power lines are being built regardless of cost and those areas to be kept well maintained for years to come.

[@ayajade6683]

@@tjorvegro9651 it doesn't work in the USA do to how much soil diversity we have and a lot of it is black jack silt and red clay which doesn't tolerate underground lines well. That's before we get to the granite and other bed rock that sometimes even dynamite can't demolish it as it's that thick. We also have more tectonic plates to worry about as there's one on the east coast that when it does cause earthquakes it is felt all the way up in Canada even it's minor after shocks are 3.0 or higher quakes there's been 3 from it in 5 months

[@eggrollsoup]

@@ayajade6683 There is no plate boundary on the easy coast, the reason why shockwaves travel farther in the mid and north + east central portions of the continent is because the crust is older and denser, hence the vibrations travel farther.

[@kajerlou]

I spent a year doing that job in southern Alabama. It was one of my young buck trying to start attempts. OMG, it is such a dangerous and poorly managed industry. The things we were expected and did do were totally outrageous especially when you consider how we just got paid just a smidgen over minimum wage.

[@andreav8744]

I was 9 during the black out. I remember a lot but what sticks out the most is how being indoors was torture because of how hot and humid it was. I will never forget when the power came on and how hearing the AC ramp back up brought us all back to life.

[@viobliterator]

I remember that blackout quite well. I was 10 and I was at a daycamp with my friends when it happened. At that time kids didn't have phones to contact family members so communication was really difficult... Not to mention commuting to and from!

[@Sammysapphira]

Ah the days when a 16 year old with a cellphone was unconscionable

[@Sorrowdusk]

@@Sammysapphira I had a nokia brick.

[@SNN95]

@@Sorrowdusk even having that brick felt so fancy.

[@makeyogurtafruit]

@@Sammysapphira"Where do these random words keep coming from?!" - *Me, 1 second ago*

[@realcartoongirl]

even if you had phones it wouldn't work because cell towers were down

[@SavageGreywolf]

the 2003 blackout was like a rhyming precursor echo to the ERCOT blackout during the winter storm. It was the opposite problem: Instead of extreme heat, the issue was extreme cold. The Texas grid was (and is) desperately in need of updates as well. In addition, the design of the grid is such that it's basically currently not possible to prepare for extreme winter conditions like those in the winter storm- and it will happen again as long as officials ignore the problem.

[@CaptainSpicard]

In addition to the tips provided about keeping the freezer & fridge closed, it can also be helpful to keep a large jug of frozen water in the freezer. It keeps the freezer cool during an extended outage, and when it eventually melts you'll have drinking water.

[@Kevin-jz9bg]

This covered both the technicalities of power transmission to the human experiences on the receiving end. Truly wonderful. I have to imagine that near catastrophes happen pretty regularly, and we don't know about them because our grid workers handle them so well. Really makes me appreciate them.

[@kurrohii3957]

Brew's "How to prepare/survive a power outage" is kinda 'funny' because thats like common sense in our country where 8 hour black outs are like a normal tuesday

[@Nostripe361]

Where is this?

[@sofielamy]

I didn't know this. This isn't common in my country. I am really shocked North Americans find it normal.

[@piperbird7193]

@@sofielamy A lot of northern North America have go bags like this because it's very common to lose power for long periods of time in the winter. If you don't have a genny, you can really be in trouble.

[@unknownqwerty2525]

I only remember living through 1 blackout, and it was 10 hours.

[@crystal8716]

Longest blackout was two weeks🙁

[@hancocki]

I remember being in the basement when the power went out. Luckily, my neighbourhood was back up in about 24h. That night I had never seen so many stars living in the city. The story of Lewis is so tragic 😢. Thank you for including the advice on preparing for future emergencies. Hopefully this will help save at least one life in the future.

[@daisiesforghosts]

I remember this. I was 9. It was a wild several days living primitively. Luckily we had a gas stove so we could still cook. My mom didn’t realize how huge the outage was and was almost out of gas. She NEVER let’s get gas get that low and didn’t then. The one time she happened to the blackout happened. No gas stations were open. At all. It was wild

[@borninhell4354]

Imagine getting paid 10 dollars an hour for something as risky as that

[@ps92809]

isnt that like lower then minimum wage

[@borninhell4354]

@Parker Stevens it probably before covid when 8 dollars was Minimum wage

[@Gatorade69]

pEoPlE dOnT wAnT tO wOrK!

[@piperbird7193]

@@ps92809 Minimum wage in 2003 was something like 7 bucks.

[@Piant_Genis]

@@piperbird7193 $7.25 yep

[@davidjordan697]

I used to sell electrical services door to door in Ireland. One of the questions I had to ask when switching someone was if anyone in the home was medically dependent on electrical devices and pass that on to eirgrid. The idea being that in the event of a power cut, emergency teams could deploy portable generators to tide people over until power was restored or transferred them to hospitals which have redundant power systems. I’m surprised the US and Canada don’t have similar systems and laws in place.

[@sophierobinson2738]

1. The U.S. and Canada are HUGE. 2. The politicians in the U.S. are more interested in keeping money for themselves rather than helping the people who have to fork over taxes every year.

[@cayenigma]

I am pretty sure that only applies to planned power outages.

[@MrsMuffin11]

Ireland is smaller than a lot of the states in the US. That would be impossible.

[@kareneastman9695]

RIP Lewis.😞+ All the people who died in the 2003 Blackout.😲😞

[@katranian]

these emojis dont really fit here

[@SobboMonkeVR]

@@katranian same energy as RIP Lewis 💀💀💀

[@Mario87456]

Boo hoo NOBODY cares about them anymore.

[@hystericalpeanut2844]

@@Mario87456 But it's history!

[@NzLes]

@@Mario87456 i do cares, and if u dont, why click this video in the first place

[@potatopie1696]

It's really neat to finally understand why my power went out for 3 weeks back when i was 9 years old.

[@clauday6467]

Blackout is super common in my country i never realized how much it could effect medical need , we usually have independence back up power generator for important shop/place. , rip to every one that died because of this

[@-Raylight]

SEA people : *"Blackout? First time?"* Electricty takes and gives life, truly ironic Watched because of curiosity, learned a lot of things about things you need to prepare before emergency happens

[@NealCamerlengo]

Just like water.

[@congruentcrib]

If you are really paranoid about being stuck with no way to communicate with people long distance; get a landline phone. They use a completely independent power source, and the power required is well under 10%. This makes the biggest issue being landlines getting jammed up due to high traffic, but since landlines are so rare, it’s like a 8 lane highway with no cars.

[@snuffoutrouge5109]

nowadays the landlines use Fibre Optic digital data in Australia but in my country the government decided to go cheap and not run fibre to each home on the mainland. So if the power goes the home Modem goes down that coverts digital to analogue in your home to feed to the phone and the repeaters and multiplexors in the street go down as well. That is if the network provider doesn't cause a 12 hour outage from a software update that went wrong ! or someone doesn't dig up the telco cables causing a major outage

[@L2.Lagrange]

The voltage does not go through his body, the current goes through his body. The voltage goes 'across' his body. Voltage is dropped across a resistance, capacitance, or inductance, not through it. Voltage is the difference in potential energy between two points created by the separation of charges. The electric field created by this separation of charge is what accelerates electrons (current) through his body. Its like how a gravitational field accelerates a mass down a hill, an electric field (related to the voltage) accelerates the charges through materials. Still, its a bit more complicated than that, but I am admittedly nitpicking your video.

[@austini.5262]

Yeah! Science!

[@Bennacho]

No one cares about the verbiage

[@L2.Lagrange]

@@Bennacho Its not the verbiage, its the difference between two of the main variables in ohms law; V=IR. The variables in question being V (voltage) and I (current). R is for for resistance, although capacitive and inductive resistance is more complex than that and they have to do with the frequencies of the harmonics that make up the signal. The variables are fundamentally different well beyond verbiage. Although as I previously stated, yes I am being nitpicky.

[@L2.Lagrange]

Also I should say, transmission lines relay alternating current. AC is a lot more dangerous than DC to humans. I could write like 100 pages on this and still not scratch the surface. It has to do with how alternating current conducts between a conductor, insulator, and ground.

[@nadie9058]

If anyone is curious, AC is more dangerous than DC because the stray capacitance in our body effectively makes our resistance much smaller, making a lot more current pass through our body to ground.

[@baegani]

I appreciate your videos a lot! They keep me aware and on my toes with situations I never thought of, and are very direct and to the point.

[@fitybux4664]

Getting my dad a CPAP power outage alarm for Christmas. Not worth losing someone over a power outage. And although most on CPAP can uncomfortably sleep without it sometimes, it's quite risky, especially if you are older.

[@-BitGaming-eq5cl]

Where can I get one for my grandma thank u

[@lucyk.5163]

@@-BitGaming-eq5cl Better google it, kid.

[@BLUE_OCTOBER-TRIX]

I have sleep apnea but don’t use a cpap it’s to annoying

[@fitybux4664]

@@BLUE_OCTOBER-TRIX read the paper on treating sleep apnea reducing all cause mortality. (Or don't. It's your life honestly.)

[@BLUE_OCTOBER-TRIX]

@@fitybux4664 I appreciate you looking out. By giving me the suggestion of something to read about it. I hope you have a blessed day. God bless you and yours.

[@mentaluproar]

Akron is pronounced “ack-run.” You got it right a few times. Erie is also also pronounced “ear-ie”

[@raeraebadfingers]

Ake-rin lol it gave me a giggle Best way I've heard a non Ohio native say it was like ache-ron

[@Bash_Minimal]

Thank you lol

[@AwesomePowerCat]

lol it made me laugh at first, because I'm so used to hearing it pronounced the correct way, I never considered how people who are unfamiliar with it would pronounce it lol He did get right the last few times, but it was still funny at first

[@downhomesunset]

@@AwesomePowerCat And Erie too!

[@mentaluproar]

@@raeraebadfingers Oh I've heard an Ohioan pronounce it that way. It's painful, like hearing an old GPS pronounce "Massillon."

[@russellforsyth8416]

My sincere condolences for this young man and his family. I worked for 3 different power and light companies here in TX. The grid is a redundant system and barring an actual break in the transmission line or catastrophic substation failure the system has many fail safes which kick substations off line to save the Gen station the shedding of the load which is safer than gambling on tripping a Gen station. What occurred in Feb of 2020 was incompetence on ercots part. I understand how the grid functions as it was my job to get substations back on line. That's why brown outs are more favorable than total blackouts .

[@23rdwhite]

I'm curious why they didn't have the ac unit setup to an backup generator in the first place because of the condition he was in.

[@lucyk.5163]

And also why didn't he have anyone living nearby? Why didn't they go to the neighbors, get their contact info just in case? Why didn't he have family living with him? He had 3 missing limbs. Why did they let him live alone and depend on some organization or whatever that was? If it was free, the chances of it not being reliable on a crisis multiplies. So many questions. I'm sure they had their reasonings but this really was preventable. If they had people living nearby, with him or had neighbors info, they could've driven him to the nearest hospital at the very least, since they have generators and air-conditioners running.

[@giftofthewild6665]

What i was thinking

[@23rdwhite]

@lucyk.5163 it's almost as of they wanted him dead for some reason. Sad but very possible.

[@psgamer-il2pt]

@@lucyk.5163 and why didn't they call a ambulance to go there

[@psgamer-il2pt]

@@lucyk.5163 or a police officer

[@usb6000]

Yeah that blackout mess me up for life. I'm always worried the power is going to go out.

[@Marvelouse]

Wow Blackouts are life threatening ? In my country blackouts happened Continuously. sometimes 2 days or sometimes 13 to 5 hours daily.

[@Gatorade69]

@@Marvelouse A lot of people don't have the proper means to heat and or cook for themselves if the power goes out. They have lived their entire lives with power, a lot of houses are set up with electrical heating sources. People have it too easy.

[@Marvelouse]

@Icewear Aiden Wrang lol . I think there are many countries that experience the same

[@Marvelouse]

@@Gatorade69 Well , even if they dont have electricity from the government , I thought that if they were rich enough to rely entirely on it , they were rich enough to get an emergency generator or something

[@Gatorade69]

@@Marvelouse I'm American except where I live is rural and we are always losing power. However for a lot of people in the cities they don't really think about that sort of thing. It's more of a thing in rural areas. I'm all set up for if the power goes out but millions of Americans aren't.

[@sophiebliss]

That power out was rough. I was stuck in another city without a vehicle and I was 17. By the time I got home by several buses and after many hours of delays, I was absolutely dehydrated. I bought some water from a subway station but that was not enough in that heat.

[@poleythepolarbear9706]

I'm glad that your okay though. Dehydration is often so often overlooked, and can have deadly consequences.

[@sophiebliss]

Thank you 😊

[@no_handle_sadly]

Love how you inform us about these situations in a serious yet kind of funny manner and even the promotions are far too funny to be skipped.

[@madlysoldier5143]

It’s very sad irony that one of the factor that lead to blackout is similar to what make Lewis needed electricity.

[@AKbaby89]

Heyyy you left out Alaska😢 We are always left out. We have our own grid though

[@darbearxd]

Wow lol, being a kid during the blackout was kinda fun honestly, it was like camping but at home. I remember the exact moment the power went out that day because it was so hot outside, we decided to go in and watch a movie and halfway through Like Mike everything shut off and my dads response was "its too hot for tv." 🤣

[@KingGoji54]

xD

[@FluffyGamer2005Ed]

Hey Michigan resident here! The lake is not called lake “Arie” it’s called Lake Eerie! Pronounced like Eerie, for example; There was an Eerie silence in the haunted house.

[@TiredMomma]

Some accents will pronounce it with the a (awe) sound. They aren't mispronouncing it on purpose, tho Brew says it both ways at times.

[@nancycowell-miller4321]

Excellent points. I live in earthquake and wildfire land. I did prepare our "Ditch Bag" (including pet needs) in a wheelie trash bin stored in the shed. Easy to drag out and toss in the truck.

[@cd6583]

The alarm notifies the controller of any problem they might encounter, except apparently the issues of the alarms malfunctioning or knocked out. great design

[@4bSix86f61]

7:16 Fridges also contain a compressor and a fan so it's no different to an A/C Instead of unplugging everything, just switch off your main breaker and check the street lights for power.

[@jessebcd]

@Brew I think it would helpful if you put the list suggested for a disabled person's contingency planning in the video description. That's why I looked at the description for myself. I only have general contingency stuff at the moment (so glad I had a fire extinguisher just in case, as my dad used it for a small arson in my area earlier this year (no person or animal got hurt)!)

[@Nylak-Otter]

I'm gonna be honest; if my survival was entirely reliant on one thing that needed to be powered by electricity, I'd get an extremely reliable backup generator. Maybe a backup generator for the backup generator. I already have a fuel-powered generator and a solar-powered generator, and that's just because I have anxiety issues.

[@chassinoir]

I was around 18 when this happened living in the Akron/Canton region. I don’t remember this black out at all. My spouse does who’s three years younger than I am. What I remember is minimum wage was around $5.15/$5.25. That’s been about 20 years ago. Since at the time the USD was worth a bit more than CD, that poor kid (who was my age) barely made enough for such a risky job. 😢

[@maxprilmuller9461]

A/C‘s and fridges both use inductive loads. (Both have compressors driven by motors, which generate mechanical power from magnetic fields). Capacitive loads, as found in most phone chargers, usually use less power and thus can’t counteract the shift between current and voltage caused by the more powerful inductive loads. Big consumers of electricity, e.g. factories, usually have to use capacitor banks to keep things in check. At least that’s how it is here over in Europe.

[@notarobot1231]

At first I was like “holy cow how is it possible for multiple states to go completely black for days” but hearing the whole story I can see how it happened. Just a whole bunch of things that shouldn’t have every happened all happened at the same time

[@DarkDepth2000]

Watch all the jokes about electricity about to “explode” in this chat

[@lancecanania6733]

well, it's exploding alright

[@dboykrank47]

My brother was an electrician in the US Navy & says that most of the electrical science in this video is bunk. Either way, my heart goes out to those affected & especially those who died. 😥😥

[@stabileseitenlage]

The way he said A/C uses reactive power, while most other appliances use real power, meanwhile showing a fridge for real power was a great one. As if a fridge isnt A/C in a box.

[@homerola2]

I wouldn't say bunk. It's a too simplistic and quick overview, sure, but conceptually it's ok enough.

[@russlehman2070]

I wouldn't call it bunk, but I would call it a rather poor job of dumbing down a complicated topic. I get it, as non-technical people's eyes will just glaze over if they start talking about phase shifts, power factors etc.

[@russlehman2070]

@@stabileseitenlage Yeah , I caught that too.

[@jbawesome5640]

Thanks for all the information about all different things!

[@dekky3908]

I remember the 2003 black outs, was preparing to go to Cedar Point that weekend when all the power went down. Was pretty scary, everything was out and we kept hearing over the radio that the whole country had lost power.

[@dyscotopia]

The "hydro lines" instead of "power lines" thing isn't a weird Canadianism. It's because Canada has a lot of water and so we have a lot of damns. Things are powered by hydroelectricity

[@KatieBellino]

That's what I thought. Thanks for the clarity. I was like, I thought they called theirs hydro lines because their hydro lines and most of ours aren't.

[@ericandruszko7563]

What a perfect storm. That's incredible, and extremely unfortunate :(

[@cassandrahorton4708]

My family moved into the affected area only a few months before the blackout. While I have no memories of it (I was 5 and have poorer than average memories on when I was young), I imagine it was a mess because while my mom has enough foods that don't need refrigerated or cooked to go 2 weeks without power and has maintained that perpetually, I doubt she had it set up that quickly into moving into a new house with a 5 year old and 3 year old.

[@Findecommie]

I'm not sure if it was the same blackout but I remember queueing with my family for dry ice to keep all our food from going bad and needing candles to use the bathroom at night. Wild times

[@mimimoomoo2902]

This video makes me remember how many times a week our power went out last year as well as our WiFi going down repeatedly me and my little brother had online school so we’d be in the middle of class when all of a sudden we warnt but this is interesting to think about

[@wmdkitty]

"Weren't" You're welcome.

[@Gatorade69]

@@wmdkitty I like warnt.

[@sophierobinson2738]

@@wmdkitty “Warnt” can be heard all over the south. Perfectly good word down here.

[@Beaneabean]

Those zoom classes did you dirty. “Warnt”

[@evilducky513]

It's always a good day when brew posts 😁

[@cherriberri8373]

I love how you when he was talking about heat pumps being inductive loads, as an example of something that would consume real power, he put a fridge on screen... which is just another heat pump... meaning it consumes inductive still too. Anything with a motor.

[@gaillewis5472]

I remember this blackout. I had a BBQ planned for the following day and moved it up so the food wouldn't spoil. Grilling by candlelight was pretty cool. We listened to a battery operated radio and studied the constellations.

[@steel8231]

These sorts of situations are why so many people are advocating for neighborhood scale thorium plants, all power needed in a given area would be generated nearly on-site localizing any issues to a small area. No need for massive cross-country transmission lines, an outage 3 counties over wont affect you, etc... At the same time Thorium is not radioactive without a catalyst and is extremely easy to make into a safe reactor (it's also much more common and less environmentally damaging to mine than uranium and can be recycled back into fuel with the waste breaking down into non-radioactive material in the process).

[@Vermillion-Tea]

i remember that black out. I live in the GTA. at that time i was 8. every one in the neighborhood came out to help each other. we had a neighborhood BBQ and played some games. it was one of the main memories i have as a kid. it really opened my eyes to the people who lived around us. i still live there today but sadly only. 5 of us who originally lived on the street when that happened live here today

[@-BitGaming-eq5cl]

That sounds cool 😎

[@rainmannoodles]

Kamikoto knives are some of the worst garbage out there, and their marketing is basically a huge scam. Be warned! On a more serious note, I’d make a couple additions to the advice on dealing with power outages: 1. If it affects an area, leaving lights on as an “indicator” for crews is basically pointless. 2. Turning your phone off to save power also means you can’t keep up with news/info. Keep that in mind when balancing the benefits of saving charge. Low power mode, reducing brightness, and toggling airplane mode except when using the phone can also dramatically extend battery life without needing to constantly reboot. 3. A decently sized USB battery pack can keep your phone charged for days as a middle ground between nothing and noisy gas generators. A solar panel is also a great option.

[@PRmoustache88]

Some buildings that house disabled and retired people have large diesel generators to provide emergency power to life enabling equipment. Hospitals will most always have backup diesels to support critical care and neonatal facilities. Was this the case that the high-rise the young man lived in did not have such emergency backup system?

[@bumlookercheekymonkey3985]

Can someone please tell me the difference between a blackout and a brown out? My Dad said a black out is when you loose power and a brown out is when someone goes poopoo in their hand, walk up behind someone and smear it in their eyes and yell BROWN OUT! BROWN OUT! I just can’t tell if my Dad is being cereal or pulling my middle leg!

[@Conundrum191]

Blackout: Power goes out entirely (or enough that nothing functions at all) Brownout: Power dips well below the normal supply, or is unstable, but does not go out completely. One way I remember telling the difference was with incandescent lights. Blackout all lights would go out, with a brownout they would essentially dim or constantly flicker. Note for sensitive equipment, brownouts are WAY worse than blackouts.

[@-Infex-]

One man died to 4 separate trees. Possibly the most trees related to a single death

[@Kr0noZ]

Yeah, it's also funny to me that 3 separate power transmission lines dies to the same "sagging into a tree" problem; like, how is it not mandatory for trees under high voltage lines to be cut down and regrowth denied?

[@-Infex-]

@@Kr0noZ probably because it hadn't been a problem before, and if it did, there were redundancies. Hopefully they learned that lesson and made it no longer a problem

[@sarahsunshine8455]

I really hope that his mother sued the agency that was in charge of his care! They knew he was there with no electricity and he had a caregiver where did they go?

[@aspectjr]

Nice video, next time cover the 2018 floods in kerala, India. Many people lived without power for months, while having their houses surrounded by water. Cell services were disconnected, and it was raining so much that no one could walk outside to communicate. Many people drowned because they were trapped inside their homes and the water filled up to the top.

[@dustux]

AC uses reactive power Also him: Shows a refrigerator and says "This uses real power" as if it don't have a compressor, condenser and an evaporater like an air conditioner

[@russlehman2070]

An electric stove or an incandescent light bulb would have been a much better choice than a refrigerator, for sure. Anything with a motor is inductive.

[@No-304s]

Brew you're like a fresh cup of coffee ☕ I just can't get enough 🤫

[@victoriaeads6126]

The last two minutes of this video are by far the most useful and important.

[@KOSMOS1701A]

I think i remember when this happened, a newscaster was talking about the power going out in the lower parts of the state.............then the power went out.

[@victoriaeads6126]

I remember thinking that this blackout was one of the worst things I might experience. Yeah. I know. I was young and extremely sheltered. I was on a road trip back to PA from Minnesota with family when this happened. Ironically, we might have been affected by the blackout if we hadn't been travelling. We were in Ohio when it happened. We planned to go to the State Fair, and it was unaffected by the blackout. By the time we returned to my parents' home in SE PA, power THERE was restored.

[@victoriaeads6126]

Now I live on a well and septic system. Our power can be...uh....quirky. Most of our rural neighbourhood is equipped with individual generators.

[@magnusvontripplehorniii]

⚡ I'm Shocked 😯⚡

[@thisisme3238]

Good vid as always, Brew. 👍😎

[@K-Anator]

I'm surprised you acknowledged that we call power 'hydro' here. Gotta love those damns. Also remember that blackout, almost got stuck in my apartment's elevator.

[@someonewiththenicknamescre9292]

INSTANT NOODLES

[@christinacastro1340]

im so glad you are putting noses on people

[@patrickmarsh2538]

Wires down, red alert! Don't go near, you'll get hurt! Get some help, better rush and do not, do not, do not touch!

[@armahnmanman]

As someone who live on Lake Erie, I remember it being so fun as a kid during the Blackout lol but Cleveland went a bit wild

[@Xizilqou]

Why do the power lines instantly explode when they touch trees? Is that rubber layer just like movie armor?

[@mikeloeven]

actually high tension lines are not usually insulated at all just bare wire the ceramic wire holders keep it isolated from the metal pole the thick rubber lines you see on most street poles are communication cable fiber phone etc. or things that require some type of EMF shielding.

[@Xizilqou]

@@mikeloeven Oh, thank you for the information, I've only ever seen the lines with the rubber up close and I assumed they were all like that for protection

[@thehangmansdaughter1120]

I never thought to leave an outside light on as well is an indoor one. That's a really good idea.

[@errorbirdesther]

R.I.P to everyone who lost their lives during the blackout

[@stanleyhyde8529]

Shouldn't he have been grounded with the vehicle and how'd the branch catch on fire? The lines should have been insulated to keep that kind of thing from happening. Unless I'm fundamentally misunderstanding something. Probably shouldn't have been so close to the power lines in any case.

[@GrillerRohde]

This incident is old so it’s likely that there weren’t these safety rules back then.

[@fredrickwheeler6852]

falling branch might have scratched the insulation as it fell, exposing both wires and arcing through the branch. vehicle-ground doesn't matter, the branch bursting into flames set him on fire, he wasn't electrically shocked. I think the worst part is probably that being in an enclosed space like that he wouldn't have had any real means to put himself out. can't stop-drop-and-roll in a cherry picker (or whatever equipment he was using to get to the branches).

[@b1oo71]

Losing electricity in Ohio is crazy

[@cayenigma]

Anyone wondering how on Earth did he overheat; it is because he was burned. All his sweat glands were destroyed by it, so he could not sweat to cool down.

[@comradelovespain5714]

underrated info

[@manosm2003]

That was absolutely disastrous not just for the machines but also for human health. And industries with their completely ignorance, commuted a crime???!!!!!!!

[@xilstus1776]

7:19 You are aware that air conditioners and refrigerators are essentially the same thing? Although they may have different regulations about "power factor" correction, I'm not sure.

[@Sushi_The_Yokai]

My papa had a generator up all the way in Pennsylvania so my mom drove me when I was only a little baby all the way up to Pennsylvania just to go through the blackout my dad stayed home with our dog so she wouldn't get too cold.

[@Gatorade69]

I like to get those compressed cans of air. You turn them upside down and spray and they shoot out some really cool air. I will use a whole can until it freezes my face.

[@the_kombinator]

That power outage was awesome. I made it from Ajax to Brampton on the 407 in just under 20 minutes. Pedal completely buried to the floorboard, ~173 (20 year old Hyundai wouldn't go faster) km/h the entire way, and I was getting passed by VR6 Corrados and a Type R Integra. Then we had BBQs for a couple days. Everyone had to eat their thawing meat.

[@CleoHarperReturns]

Sooo...were power lines out to get poor Lewis from the start? Or is this part of Akron's long term plan to take over the world?

[@AndreCunha]

I was having a regular day, but then everything changed when -the fire nation attacked- it sagged into a tree

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

We solved the no money in upkeep of the grid here in Sweden. The electrical companies are by law required to reimburse for blackouts since... about a decade back? So if the power goes out for more then eight hours, or so, they lose MILLIONS. Ergo, suddenly there was huge stacks of money to be made in a solid grid!

[@atomic66]

Yeah, curious how that works out, huh? Too bad the residents of texas couldnt sue for that drbacle

[@Night-Wolf]

Looks like yet another reason to perhaps consider burying the power lines. It'll cost, yes, but it'll also reduce (if not eliminate) the chance of people driving into power poles and lines shorting on branches. However, it might increase the likelihood of burying critters gnawing at those lines and/or roots growing into them.

[@MicahBurginGTVPO]

"Real power" Shows a fridge... Refrigerators use the exact same compressors as AC units to function. They are inductive loads. A lightbulb is a better comparison to use. If it relies on something spinning, it's inductive. Anyway I'm just some annoying electrician, don't let me spoil the video for you. Brew's research team, look up how things work before using them as examples. If it makes things cold, it uses a compressor, which is an inductive load, which causes the drop in power factor that can lead to these grid issues.

[@patlodrez4230]

Brews explanation on real and reactive power and its effect on the grid is very confusing.