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Italy Blackout Cuts Power to Millions
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 â 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.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-09-28 |
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