By John Mangels
Plain Dealer Reporter

The massive power outage that rippled down the Atlantic seaboard and into the Midwest yesterday left Cleveland and Northeast Ohio with a dangerously low water supply, thousands of stranded travelers and a state of emergency.

When, the lights winked out shortly after 4 p.m., elevators shuddered to a stop, intersections quickly turned into crapshoots and skyscraper termants began, long, sweaty stairwell descents that brought eerie flashbacks to 911. At least one million people were without electricity in the region, and although a few communities regained power last night, utility officials said it would be today, at the earliest, before most customers began to see results.

And yet, people quickly began to cope and to help. At the Justice Center in downtown Cleveland, court clerks kept a window open until the end of business hours for people to pay bail bonds. At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's museum store, checkers wrote wrote out receipts by hand.

And at, the snarled juntion of E. 24th St. and Superior Ave., Jave McIntyre spun, swooped and pointed at drivers to untangle the gridlock of vehicles trying to enter 1-90. "I'm just free-lance, doing this to keep this area clear," he said. Drivers rolled down their windows to thank him.

With power not expected to be restored until at least today for many parts of Northeast Ohio, Cuyahoga County residents hit the road in droves, headed southward to Medina, Brunswick and other cities that didn't lose electricity. They were looking for gas, ice, and perhaps a place to cool down on one of the hottest days of the summer.

Brian Mibbs, 36, of Parma, said he arrived at work in Avon Lake with just an eighth of a tank of gas. His plan to fill up after work died with the blackout. He said he had no choice but to wait in a long line last night in Medina. It's really interesting how, susceptible we are, isn't it?" he said.

But it was the lack of water, rather than fuel, that most worried area officials.

The biggest crisis we have is water," said Clevaland Mayor Jane Campbell last night. "Water is very precious right now."

As of 6:20 p.m., the Cleveland Water System had a two-hour supply before pressure dropped. Campbell urged people to conserve water.

"This is not a good time to take showers," she said.

Some parts of the city had no water by early evening. Water commissioner Julius Ciaccia said that pumps for the water system are too big to be powered by backup generators. Cleveland's Water Dept. serves most of Northeast Ohio.

Late last night, city officials were discussing the possibility of firing up Cleveland Public Power's rarely used downtown generators, which would provide electricity to two or three of the city's water plants.

"We're trying to hang on until they get this resolved!"

The National Guard was on standby to deliver water if needed.

Cleveland fire chief Kevin Gerrity said the lack of water posed a serious problem. "We do have a plan in place," he said.

The department recalled 200 firefighters, doubling the size of the daily force. The department called in extra fire trucks that that hold at least 7,000 gallons of water. But a large fire would challenge the department's strength, Gerrity said.

Along with the fresh water supply, sewage posed a problem.

As a result of the power outage, millions of gallons of untreated sewage was released into Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River. The three major sewage treatment plants serving most of Cuyahoga County and northern Summit County had no backup power and could not pump the sewage or treat it.

"The system as it stands now is running on gravity," said Tim Tigue, director of operations and maintenance for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. Customers served by. The Cleveland water system who have been without service should boil water for at least three minutes before using it, officials said.

Lake County has back up generators for its water and sewage system and was operating normally, said Ken Gauntner, the Lake County administrator/interim, emergency management agency director.

Even so, the county asked residents to refrain from laundry, watering, washing cars and not to overuse water.

As night fell, storefronts were dark and streetlights lacked their familiar yellow glow. By late evening, there had been no reports of looting or widespread violence. In Cleveland, Mayor Campbell ordered a 9:30 p.m. curfew for youths 18 and younger.,

Dave Stalmaker, assistant manager at Dave Supermarket at E. 33rd st. and Payne in Cleveland, planned to stay inside the store and roll metal carts to the front doors to block potential thieves. He estimated the store lost more than $30,000 because it was forced to close early.

By 5:15 p.m., Zagara's grocery manager Carl DiVita in Cleveland Heights was hauling out two more pallets filled with bagged ice. Within minutes of the blackout, customers began streaming into the Lee Road store, he said, buying ice, water and batteries.

No one mentioned terrorism, "but you could sense the fear," DiVita said, "Everyone knew everybody else was thinking it - thinking it was terror."

Area hospitals were operating with backup power. At Southwest General Health Center, all extraneous power -- in the business office, for example -- was cutoff, said Mary Van Dalen, associate administrator for corporate communications. She said generator power supported the patient floors, emergency room and operating rooms lit is not affected our basic medical equipment." Van Dallen said. Parma Community General hospital had a several-day supply of backup power, said spokeswoman C.J. Sheppard.

At Cleveland Hopkins Airport, backup generators kicked in to keep the juice flowing to air traffic controllers' equipment. Planes were able to land safely. However, there was no power for the X ray machines and other equipment at security checkpoints, so outbound flights were canceled and hundreds Of travelers were stuck.

Motorists with vehicle problems were out of luck too. Half of the Cleveland AAXs, 400-truck emergency fleet was out of commission due to the blackout, their in-cab computers without the data that is beamed in to route the trucks to stranded drivers.

The agency wasn't getting a higher than usual numnber of assistance calls late yesterday, said AAA spokesman Brian Newbacher. But the AAA drivers were running low on gas supplies they carry to refill members' empty tanks.