50 million people lose electricity during “unprecedented” South America blackout – “The funny part is that we don’t have electricity, but we have internet in our phones”
By Eliott C. McLaughlin
16 June 2019
(CNN) – A “massive failure” in an electrical interconnection system left Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay completely without power, a utility distributor said Sunday.
Parts of Chile and southern Brazil are experiencing outages as well, said Edesur, the Buenos Aires-based company.
The company later posted an updated statement removing Uruguay and Paraguay from the list of countries that were entirely without electricity, but it isn’t clear how many residents in those two countries have had their power restored. Power was only partially restored in Uruguay, the country’s energy authority said.
In a statement on its website, Edesur said a “collapse” in its system occurred around 7 a.m. (6 a.m. ET). […]
Lucas Rodriguez tweeted a video of the Argentine capital in darkness before dawn, saying he’d never seen anything like it.
“The funny part is that we don’t have electricity, but we have internet in our phones,” he told CNN. [more]
‘Massive failure’ leaves Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay with no power, utility says
Power cut hits Argentina and Uruguay, affecting tens of millions
By Daniel Politi
16 June 2019
BUENOS AIRES (The New York Times) – A widespread power failure early Sunday morning left a large section of South America, including all of mainland Argentina and Uruguay, without power and an energy company official called the blackout “unprecedented.”
The outage affected Argentina’s transportation system and water supply, according to local news reports. It halted trains and knocked out traffic lights, the reports said. Social media users said parts of Chile, Paraguay and southern Brazil were also affected.
Argentina’s interconnection system “collapsed” at 7:07 a.m., cutting electricity in the entire country and affecting Uruguay, the Argentine Secretariat of Energy said. […]
“There is a complete blackout in Argentina,” said Alejandra Martínez, a spokeswoman for Edesur, which serves parts of the capital, Buenos Aires, and its suburbs and has more than 2.5 million customers.
Ms. Martínez described the blackout in Argentina as “unprecedented.” She added, “This is the first time something like this has happened across the entire country.” [more]
Power Cut Hits Argentina and Uruguay, Affecting Tens of Millions
