July 14, 1977, New York City: A number of lightning strikes and a power company snafus the night before caused one of the largest blackouts the city had ever seen.
In contrast to the last major blackout in 1965, the night of July 13th was marred by looting and rioting. On the morning of July 14th several dozen businesses were still burning after a night of over a thousand fires. Over 3,700 people were arrested, the subways were down and the game between the Mets and Cubs never finished.