Major Power Outage Suffered Across Amsterdam

Hospitals, trains, trams and the metro were all hit by a major power cut in the Dutch capital Amsterdam and the surrounding area.

 

The electricity network operator, Tennet, said the regional outage was caused by a grid “overload” at a high-voltage power station in the town of Diemen.

 

Power was restored a few hours later.

 

The outage had led to traffic jams across the capital as a result of traffic lights turning off, and the electric-powered tram system was brought to a standstill, as thousands of commuters were stranded.

 

Schiphol airport was switched to backup power and all flights were diverted to airports in Belgium and Germany because of the cut.

 

Hospitals were also forced to rely on backup power while many trains were stranded due to signal failures.

 

The ANP news agency said the outage covered large parts of the province of North Holland, including the nearby broadcasting centre of Hilversum.

Courtesy of Sky News

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Nationwide blackout, power restored and lost again – explosion at Marsa distribution centre in Malta

A fault in one of the generating units of Delimara power station caused a nationwide power cut this evening. An explosion took place at the same time at a distribution centre near Marsa Industrial Estate.

No one was injured but the explosion produced a fire and thick black smoke. Extensive damage was caused. Enemalta reported the fire extinguished at 11.15pm

Cars provide some lighting for an open air restaurant in Bugibba

Power was lost across Malta and Gozo at 7.50pm, setting off burglar alarms as lights and air conditioners went off – as did the street decorations in the towns and villages preparing to celebrate the feast of Sta Marija. Some traffic junctions became dangerous as traffic lights went off.

Supply started being restored to some areas at 8.50pm. But power was lost again at 10.40pm.

A number of readers reported problems with their telephone and internet service.

Many people went out as soon as power was lost, crowding the promenades.  Restaurants with generators had brisk business and one restaurant in Bugibba was seen cooking meals over a large barbeque.

Other people cooled off on their roofs and, with power still not back again till late,  some opted to sleep there – under a full moon and the annual meteor shower.

At Grand Harbour, a ceremony marking the arrival of the Sta Marija convoy of 1942 continued — the power failure recalled the wartime blackout, someone said sarcastically. Power for the sound system was provided by a patrol boat.

Many localities had their power restored for the second time by midnight.

A spokesman for Enemalta said that the reason for the power station generator fault was being investigated as engineers worked to restore power as soon as possible.

Malta last suffered a nation-wide power cut on January 9 because of a Delimara power station fault.

Daniel Cilia took this picture of the star-lit light as the moon rose over Birkirkara with electricity lights off at about 9.30 pm. The Basilica was still lit from the inside at the start of celebrations of the feast of St Helen

A slow shutter shot of a street in Iklin during the blackout, using car lights and the full moon

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Major power outage leaves commuters scrambling, silences president in Venezuela

A blackout cut power to much of Venezuela on Friday, snarling traffic in the capital Caracas and other major cities as authorities scrambled to restore electricity after the outage, which twice interrupted a presidential broadcast.

Pedestrians streamed into the streets of Caracas as the blackout shuttered the underground metro trains and left frustrated drivers honking in the chaos without stoplights.

Government ministers in the late afternoon said they expected power would be restored shortly. It was the second nationwide major electricity outage in less than a year.

“How am I going to get to my house? By the grace of God,” said Pedro Mayora, 58, an accountant who was waiting outside the Metro to see how he would reach his home on the poor west end of the city.

Workers stood in groups outside evacuated buildings, some complaining of difficulty in communicating over congested cellular phone lines.

An outage at a power station in the center of the country led to other generation centers going offline, halting service in that region and in the Andes region in the west, Electricity Minister Jesse Chacon told state television.

The problems extended to Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second city, and the industrial center of Valencia.

The OPEC nation has suffered an increasing number of power outages in recent years, which critics have attributed to low electricity tariffs and limited state investment following the 2007 nationalization of the power sector.

Television screens froze for several seconds as Maduro was speaking during a broadcast of the awards ceremony for a national journalism prize. The words “It looks like the power went out” were audible in the background.

“Traffic normally flows fine, but with the power out it’s complete chaos,” said Carlos Pena, 58, a fuel station worker.

A representative of state oil company PDVSA said there were no reports of the oil industry being affected.

President Nicolas Maduro in December blamed a similar power outage on opposition saboteurs who attacked a transmission line with a firearm.

Critics call the power problems a symptom of 15 years of socialist policies that have left the country without a steady supply of energy despite having the world’s largest oil reserves.

Late socialist leader Hugo Chavez in 2007 nationalized the country’s power sector as part of a broad wave of state takeovers.

Maduro this year weathered three months of often violent opposition demonstrations demanding his resignation that were in part motivated by complaints over shoddy public services. He said the protests were a U.S.-backed attempt to overthrow him.

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Major power outage caused by fire affecting thousands in Gibraltar

An explosion and fire at a power station in Gibraltar left a large part of the British peninsula bordering southern Spain without electricity on Sunday, police said.

A huge cloud of dark smoke hovered over a residential part of the territory, but no injuries were reported.

Gibraltar police said on their Twitter feed that there was “no need to evacuate” but advised residents to keep their windows shut.

The nearby offices of an online sports betting firm were evacuated, an AFP reporter said, adding that its services were down.

Police ruled out foul play, surmising that a generator caught fire because of a mechanical fault before exploding.

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