donk said:
The serious looting was 20 broken windows and associated theft...
...which makes that one of the most serious riots in Canadian history.
Aside from how idyllic the world may be when there is no electricity and pedestrians are nice to each other, there are lessons to be learned for us as planners.
In one of the reports there was a mention of a hotel where guests could not get into their rooms because the electronic keys did not work. Think about the potential business implications, or emergency service implications of something as small as an electronic door lock. Why can't a large hotel have a small generator for such needs, or why can't there be a manual bypass on the system?
Subways stopped running and stop signals were out. Self-powered mass transit and roundabouts are beginning to look more attractive, aren't they?
Many cities rely on electrical pumps to obtain water, not just for drinking, but also for fire protection. With the pumps inoperable, supplies can be exhausted very quickly. Here is another case for back-up generation, and a cause to assess whether your community has adequate pressured water storage.
Sewage treatment plants were also out of commission and dumping raw sewage into the environment. Do these cities want to emulate Milwaukee? Chicago and some other large cities have storage capacity for major events, and would be much more capable of holding the sewage for later treatment.
Of course, there is the question of the grid itself and its ability to withstand shocks. We were very lucky to have this happen as an accident. If it were a terrorist attack you could very well expect that they would plan to capitalize on the subsequent crippling of services. Look at how congested New York was with all of those pedestrians in the streets - the perfect time and target for a strike. Cleveland can't pump water? What better time to start fires? I would think there would be an angle for an economic strike, too, when many IT systems go down. (Of course, many are on back-up power.)
This event should be taken very seriously. We do have a lot to learn from it.