5 Things to Know Today: August 14, 2012

1. The weather

The National Weather Service says we can expect showers and possibly thunderstorms. There will be a high near 73. Tuesday night will be mostly clear, with a low around 58.

2. Gas prices

According to DetroitGasPrices.com, the lowest reported gasoline price in the White Lake area as of Monday night was $3.94 per gallon at the Meijer gas station. In Highland, the Citgo station on Milford Road had the lowest gas price, $3.92.

3. On this day in history

According to History.com, in 2003, a major outage knocked out power across the eastern United States and parts of Canada. Beginning at 4:10 p.m. ET, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of New York, Cleveland and Detroit, as well as Toronto and Ottawa, Canada. Although power companies were able to resume some service in as little as two hours, power remained off in other places for more than a day. The outage stopped trains and elevators, and disrupted everything from cellular telephone service to operations at hospitals to traffic at airports. In New York City, it took more than two hours for passengers to be evacuated from stalled subway trains. Small business owners were affected when they lost expensive refrigerated stock. The loss of use of electric water pumps interrupted water service in many areas. There were even some reports of people being stranded mid-ride on amusement park roller coasters. At the New York Stock Exchange and bond market, though, trading was able to continue thanks to backup generators.

4. In the news

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5. Add Your Events to Patch

Have an event you want to share with the community? Add your own event to White Lake Patch's calendar.