Italy Blacks Out

[Blair_Warner02]

ROME - A massive blackout struck almost all of Italy early Sunday, leaving millions of people without power, stranding planes and trains, and leading to traffic accidents as drivers sped through darkened streets.

Most of Italy's 57 million people were affected — more than in North America's biggest blackout which left 50 million people without power in Canada and the United States on Aug. 14.

As in the North American blackout, the early hours of Italy's power outage were filled with confusion as to the cause and finger-pointing among neighboring countries.

Italy blamed France. France denied responsibility but then said an investigation showed a disabled power line in Switzerland set off a chain reaction of outages.

Swiss authorities said a tree that touched a high voltage power line and disrupted supplies in Switzerland could have been partly to blame. And heavy storms in southeastern France near the Italian border might have been a factor, officials initially said.

Authorities agreed no foul play was involved.

All of Italy except the island of Sardina was affected.

At the Vatican (news - web sites), the blackout left St. Peter's Basilica — normally lit up overnight — in darkness. When Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II delivered his weekly address, the Vatican had to amplify his remarks with a backup generator, while journalists huddled with candles and flashlights in the Holy See press office.

Electricity returned to much of the north by mid-morning and to most of Rome, though erratically, around noon. Parts of the south were still without power.

At a darkened cafe in Rome, manager Massimo Purificato complained he was losing business without his espresso machine and the ability to make croissants.

"All the ice creams are melting. It's a disaster," he said. "We've lost money and clients."

Fabrizio Volpi, a 21-year-old student, was briefly stuck in a nightclub when the lights went out. "There was panic, especially from the women," he said.

Hospitals used generators to keep crucial equipment running, emergency centers were flooded with calls, and traffic accidents occurred as drivers zoomed toward intersections without traffic lights. Airports turned on generators to light up runways, though many flights were delayed and a few canceled, the ANSA news agency said.

Some 110 trains were stopped across the nation with 30,000 passengers on board, and hundreds of people were stranded during an all-night festival in Rome that kept museums and restaurants open around the clock, ANSA reported.

The city had encouraged Romans and tourists to use public transport, but many stranded travelers ended up sleeping in the out-of-service subway stations.

Authorities urged citizens not to panic.

"Everybody stay calm," said Civil Defense chief Guido Bertolaso. "There is no major crisis at the moment."

Premier Silvio Berlusconi was closely following events, his spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti said.

Many cities were tormented by the din of burglar alarms tripped by the power cuts.

Officials suspected that Italy's power outage was sparked by problems in other European countries, especially France, from which Italians receive a large amount of power.

"The problem may have came from Switzerland, then transferred to France and then to Italy," said Carlo Andrea Bollino, the director of the Italian electrical network.

The head of French electricity exporter RTE said the trouble started in Austria and Switzerland, causing a short-circuit on a line between Italy and France.

The problem was "eliminated well in France but wasn't correctly eliminated in Italy," RTE director Andre Merlin told France-Info radio.

However, Merlin denied that the French network was responsible.

Power also went out for about three hours in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier in the night. Austria, Slovenia and Croatia — Italy's neighbors to the north and east — reported no problems.

In Italy, politicians acknowledged the domestic energy system was insufficient.

Some Italians have worried that new power plants could damage the environment — a position that has slowed new plant constructions. Also, national demand has shot up in recent years, prompting energy officials to warn repeatedly that blackouts could come.

"I would like my fellow citizens to know that we must build new plants and networks on our territory or the situation will remain the same," said Paolo Scaroni, CEO of power company Enel.

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi urged that "we must not slow down the construction of new power plants."

Italy was hit with partial power cuts in June, when people — suffering in the scorching summer — overloaded the system with air conditioners and other electricity-guzzling appliances. That was the first time in more than 20 years that the national operator of the electrical grid ordered power cuts.

Last week, nearly 4 million people in eastern Denmark and southern Sweden were without electricity for more than three hours after a rare power outage plagued parts of Scandinavia.

On Aug. 28, power briefly went out in parts of London and southeast England, shutting off traffic lights in the British capital and stranding hundreds of thousands of people on subways and trains.

Authorities are still investigating the British outage, as well as the Aug. 14 blackout in Canada and the United States.

[musicradio77]

Italy's blackout is the worst than the one on August 14th in New York, Canada, Michigan and New Jersey.

[webuster]

Why are electrical systems never updated- I think you'd be kinda worried to think your whole populations business and electricity depends on whether or not a tree touches a powerline in Switzerland..

[KnightFalls]

or a squirrel chews through a wire.

[Blair85]

WEll, I hope my Italian family is ok. I have many relatives over there.

[David]

whoa another blackout, eh ?

[Hollow]

cool.

[musicradio77]

In the "Lizzie McGuire Movie", Italy didn't have any blackouts at all.

[ABlairican Pie]

I guess the reason would be that it had too much to drink.

[Hollow]

Originally posted by BrooklynGuy78
In the "Lizzie McGuire Movie", Italy didn't have any blackouts at all.

...what?

[~*Hannah_Lee*~]

Originally posted by ~°Sarah°~
...what?

I"m confused too.

[Beavis]

Yes that was very unfortunate...

[KnightFalls]

Is the power back on yet>