The Change Mariner

Massive Power Outage Sweeps Across Italy

ABCNEWS.com:

A storm-tossed tree branch that hit Swiss power lines helped trigger a massive blackout in almost all of Italy, trapping thousands on trains and forcing the pope to use a backup generator to proclaim his new cardinals. The outage, blamed for three deaths, underlined the dangers of Italy's reliance on imported power.

It was Italy's worst power outage since World War II. Most of the country's 58 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, there was initially confusion about the cause and finger-pointing among neighboring countries. With scant domestic supply and swelling public demand, Italy imports most of its electricity.

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