Grid Failure Responsible for Power Outages in 4 South American Countries

ARGENTINA-POWER-OUTAGE

An enormous, widespread power failure that cut off electricity to the entire countries of Argentina and Uraguay, as well as parts of Brazil and Paraguay, is being blamed on a grid failure, authorities said. More than 48 million people woke up to no power Sunday morning, the BBC reported.

According to a tweet from Edesur Argentina, a power company responsible for delivering electricity to more than 2.5 million customers, the grid failure began at around 7:07 a.m. local time. The power outage is being attributed to "a massive failure in the electrical interconnection system" which left "all of Argentina and Uruguay without power."

Among the affected provinces in Argentina were Santa Fe, San Luis, Formosa, La Rioja, Chubut, Cordoba and Mendoza. The only area unaffected by the power outage was Tierra del Fuego.

Some neighborhoods in Brazil and Paraguay have also lost electricity, according to reports. The outage reportedly affected over 48 million people at one point. The outage comes on the same day as parts of Argentina head to the polls for an election.

Around 34,000 customers have gotten their power restored while Edesur works on the problem.

Electricity in the Buenos Aires area is also coming back online - albeit slowly.

"The process of normalization, which will require several hours, is beginning," according to a tweet from Edesur.

Residents experiencing the outage posted photos of towns that had gone completely dark accompanied by the hashtag #SinLuz.

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content