When Manhattan went dark: Historic photograph from the air captures New York City left powerless by Hurricane Sandy

By Helen Pow and Leslie Larson

PUBLISHED: 22:42 EST, 3 November 2012 | UPDATED: 12:03 EST, 4 November 2012

A spectacular photograph has captured the historic moment the lights went out over half of Manhattan. 

Taken by photographer Iwan Baan from the air, the incredible image, which is splashed across the cover of this week's New York Magazine, shows the Island of Manhattan half aglow and half in dark.

Hurricane Sandy left thousands without electricity when it struck on Monday evening, and the confronting, yet beautiful, photo encapsulates how one of the world's most powerful cities was rendered powerless in an instant by mother nature.

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Historic: Taken by photographer Iwan Baan from the air, the incredible image, which is splashed across the cover of this week's New York Magazine, shows the Island of Manhattan half aglow and half in dark

Historic: Taken by photographer Iwan Baan from the air, the incredible image, which is splashed across the cover of this week's New York Magazine, shows the Island of Manhattan half aglow and half in dark

In a situation dubbed 'The Tale of Two Cities,' much of uptown New York continued to live as usual in the aftermath of the storm, with some even calling the week off from school and work a 'hurrication.'

 

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But the situation in lower Manhattan, which became known as SoPo - or the area South of Power - became dire.

From around 39th street downwards, apartments, offices, restaurants and bodegas were rendered powerless in a heartbeat, and the residents, workers and business owners were left not knowing what to do.

Pitch-black: Hurricane Sandy left thousands in Manhattan without electricity when it struck on Monday evening

Pitch-black: Hurricane Sandy left thousands in Manhattan without electricity when it struck on Monday evening

Eerie: From around 39th street downwards, apartments, offices, restaurants and bodegas were rendered powerless in a heartbeat, and the residents, workers and business owners were left not knowing what to do

Eerie: From around 39th street downwards, apartments, offices, restaurants and bodegas were rendered powerless in a heartbeat, and the residents, workers and business owners were left not knowing what to do

On the edge: The situation in lower Manhattan, which became known as SoPo - or the area South of Power - became dire before power was restored

On the edge: The situation in lower Manhattan, which became known as SoPo - or the area South of Power - became dire before power was restored

Back on: Electricity was finally restored in shifts, with some pockets switching on their lights again by Friday night and much of the remaining areas of downtown getting power by Saturday

Back on: Electricity was finally restored in shifts, with some pockets switching on their lights again by Friday night and much of the remaining areas of downtown getting power by Saturday

And the outages continued for days as temperatures began to drop. With no power, water and gas, downtowners frantically sought to get uptown but found hotel rooms and taxi cabs difficult to come by.

Electricity was finally restored in shifts, with some pockets switching on their lights again by Friday night and much of the remaining areas of downtown getting power by Saturday.

Baan's incredible image will likely go down in history as the one iconic photograph that sums up the blackout of 2012, caused by Hurricane Sandy's shock devastation.

Life after Sandy

Life after Sandy: A woman with her groceries passes a group of National Guardsmen as they march up 1st Avenue on Saturday in New York

Dark

Dark: A view from the dark scene of New York City's blackout in lower Manhattan, taken from a rooftop in Chelsea on Monday night

Hard at work

Hard at work: John Shammah, a Con Edison employee, pauses while working on Wednesday. New Yorkers waited with bated breath to hear from the power company as to when power might be restored in their neighborhood

Shocking

Shocking: Residents were stunned to see scenes of mayhem, like the Fairway supermarket in Red Hook, Brooklyn that had to dispose of spoiled food on Wednesday

Clean up:

Clean up: Joseph Leader, Metropolitan Tranportation Authority Vice President and Chief Maintenance Officer, assess the flooding damage at the South Ferry 1 train station in New York. New Yorkers struggled to get around the city after the storm, cramming into buses and fighting over taxis while the subway was immobilized

Light and dark

Light and dark: People visit the Karma Kafe, one of the few open businesses, which set up a sidewalk shop on Wednesday in Hoboken, New Jersey

Power up

Power up: With no electricity, New Yorkers scrambled to charge their electronic devices and electrical outlets were at a premium. Businesses began offering any spare plugs to downtowners in need

New York's finest

New York's finest: FDNY firefighters respond to a fire in a storefront after the roof collapsed on Wednesday in Brooklyn

Darkness falls

Darkness falls: A largely unlit downtown Manhattan stands under a night sky due to a power blackout caused by Hurricane Sandy in New York on Wednesday as thousands were without power

Business as usual

Business as usual: As lower Manhattan struggled without lights, Midtown Manhattan continued as usual following Hurricane Sandy, in Times Square on Wednesday

VIDEO: Timelapse of hurricane Sandy as it hit New York...








 
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There might be less damage to dwellings along the coastlines where these hurricanes land if they built from concrete foundations using bricks and mortar rather than flimsy timber. Every time we see the aftermath of hurricanes and tornadoes in the US, we see large swathes of timber built dwellings shattered and smashed, so doesnt concrete and brick make more sense? Sure as hell does to me.

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"The city was left powerless not by the hurricane but by a lack of long term preparation for a hurricane. London has the Thames barrier, New Orleans now has a barrier, Holland has a barrier, New York had a few sandbags. Eventually, the accountants who want proof that it would be worth spending money on flood precautions get it from nature. But don't try telling them before hand - Ian W, Reading, 4/11/2012 9:25".. Ian, I don't know anything about it, so I will ask... Would the Thames barrier hold back a 14' storm surge...? I am sure that New York City is rethinking their disaster preparedness plans right this very moment... if they aren't, they should be...! Perhaps a Thames-style barrier IS the solution, I don't know. One thing that I do know is that FEMA and a long list of other 'letter agencies' need to put some very serious thought into how they are going to combat the next large-scale disaster as it is not a case of 'IF' another one of these storms will come our way, but WHEN...!

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Amazing how the emergency power points in the photo are being used to charge smart phones, rather than cook hot meals, charge torches, warm babies bottles etc. I'm wondering what is the biggest disaster, the hurricane itself, or not being able to update your facebook profile for several days?. - Diggity, Cheshire, 4/11/2012 7:41 Diggity of Cheshire....for some people, cell phone communication is currently their only form of communication with the "outside" world. It is very disconcerting and unnerving to be out of touch...not knowing if friends and family are safe and sound, not knowing if and when help will be arriving, if and when they will have electricity and drinking water, if and when they will have food supplies as none of the local supermarkets have power...just saying. If you haven't "lived" it, you are really in no position to comment.

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The timing of this storm is not a coincidence. This is an "in your face" warning from above. Take heed. Vote carefully at the polls on Tuesday.

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Mooncheese: Easy to jibe when you are not cold, wet, hungry and homeless and had no access to electricity for 6 days. Obviously your family don't live in one of the affected areas- lucky you.

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The city was left powerless not by the hurricane but by a lack of long term preparation for a hurricane. London has the Thames barrier, New Orleans now has a barrier, Holland has a barrier, New York had a few sandbags. Eventually, the accountants who want proof that it would be worth spending money on flood precautions get it from nature. But don't try telling them before hand.

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Looking at this headline, it seems the power was off on DMs spell checker as well. gtom?

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The disaster in New Orleans should have taught them something but at the same time, the magnitude of the population in NYC vs New Orleans make the comparison useless. Most people can't fathom the amount of homes, people living in that tiny area. And this was not a badly run machine, this was a huge hurricane.. it is pretty impossible to be totally prepared for one of these. Maybe things will improve overall when Michael Bloomberg makes his exit.

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Those of us here in "SoPo" are finding ways to simply stay alive and figure out where to get our next meal since we had to empty our refrigerators and freezers on Wednesday. Stores that reopened when power was restored have little inventory....but some restaurants are now open, which does help immensely. My Union Square area high rise finally got electricity late Friday night, but we DO NOT have heat or hot water because of an issue that arose when power came back. it is 39 degrees F here right now. it is VERY cold in my apt but we are in our HOME and our son has to go back to school tomorrow, so we have to be here. there is no timeline for our heat to be back. While we feel lucky to HAVE our home, we are by no means "back to normal" in any way. as you watch the news, NEVER ASSUME every person in Manhattan is doing just fine. We are not even close to fine....but we are alive and healthy.

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Those of us here in "SoPo" are finding ways to simply stay alive and figure out where to get our next meal since we had to empty our refrigerators and freezers on Wednesday. Stores that reopened when power was restored have little inventory....but some restaurants are now open, which does help immensely. My Union Square area high rise finally got electricity late Friday night, but we DO NOT have heat or hot water because of an issue that arose when power came back. it is 39 degrees F here right now. it is VERY cold in my apt but we are in our HOME and our son has to go back to school tomorrow, so we have to be here. there is no timeline for our heat to be back. While we feel lucky to HAVE our home, we are by no means "back to normal" in any way. as you watch the news, NEVER ASSUME every person in Manhattan is doing just fine. We are not even close to fine....but we are alive and healthy.

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