US: Life was almost back to normal in the eastern United States and Canada yesterday as people got back to work and counted the cost of the biggest energy blackout in north American history.
"Subways are working, buses are working, traffic is light, it's a Monday in August, just what you would expect," New York Mayor Mr Michael Bloomberg told the NY1 cable news channel.
The cost of the blackout to the US economy will run into hundreds of millions, with a figure as high as $6 billion being cited by the Wall Street Journal.
The cost of the blackout continues to mount in Canada, as many Toronto businesses operated on 50 per cent power yesterday.
Although Wall Street was back to business as normal, small traders were badly hit by the electricity failure.
Restaurants and food outlets restocked their shelves and refrigerators as bins full of spoiled food were cleared away by the New York sanitation department.
Electricity providers in both the US and Canada continued to urge the public to conserve energy, however, as output was not yet back to normal.
The cooler weather meant that less use of air conditioners made it unlikely there would be a problem meeting power demands, however.
Although flights, trains and subways are operating on time, there is still a state of emergency in Ontario. Drinking water is unsafe in Detroit, where electricity-reliant water purification systems failed.
Meanwhile, the lights, heat and water supply across the whole of the ex-Soviet state of Georgia abruptly shut down. But the nationwide blackout caused barely a flicker of surprise among residents of the embattled state, even when senior officials suggested that sabotage by separatist rebels could have caused the power cut.
Trolleybuses and metro trains in the capital Tbilisi ground to a halt, the national television station flickered off air and hospitals switched to emergency generators when the power clicked off yesterday morning.
Georgian officials said most of the nation's 4.5 million people - long-used to periodic blackouts - went about their business as usual. Officials pledged to try and restore power by nightfall.
Government ministers were also quick to try and shift blame for the latest crisis to hit the power grid, which Tbilisi says is hostage to the political whims of northern neighbour Russia, on whom Georgia relies for its energy. Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister Mr Merab Kvekveskiri said unidentified assailants had opened fire on a major, high-voltage power line in the early hours.
The line is close to Abkhazia, site of an uneasy truce since 1993, when Abkhaz separatists drove out Georgian troops in a conflict that killed about 10,000 people.