[icot]

This happens in my country every New Years Eve with the telephone/cell networks. Communication networks are in general designed for a certain base capacity and foreseen spikes withing certain limits.

Imagine all the people in your near proximity wanting to use their phones at the same time...

Another example is the 'hug of death' small (unprepared) web sites suffer when exposed to legit traffic due to being mentioned in HN, Reddit, etc.

[corobo]

It also happens within the electrical grid here in the UK when popular TV shows and major sporting events finish and everyone flicks their kettle on. Sometimes the demand can be so huge we have to borrow power from France to cover it

"Grid employees must also be familiar with popular soap-opera storylines as one might cause a sudden rise in demand"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup