The power outage has left Argentina and Uruguay totally without power and also affected parts of Brazil, Paraguay, and Chile. According to The BBC, the power failure occurred around 7 a.m. (6 a.m. ET) said Edesur, the Buenos Aires-based utility on its website.
The blackout came as people in parts of Argentina were preparing to go to the polls for local elections. Argentina’s energy secretary, Gustavo Lopetegui, said the cause of the power failure had not yet been determined.
Tweets from Edesur explained that “a massive “failure in the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI)” is at fault. So far, about 50,000 people in Argentina have had their power restored, as well as several coastal cities in Uruguay.
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— Guy Elster (@guyelster) June 16, 2019
However, this still leaves millions without power and the utility says it could take several hours to get power restored.
The Argentine Interconnection System handles the bulk of Argentina’s electricity. It is one of two such systems in the country, the other being in the Patagonia region.
One of Argentina’s biggest water companies, Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos, warned those without power to limit their water use, as the distribution of drinking water had been affected by the power cut.
Massive power blackout hits Latin America
“Never has anything like this happened before,” Alejandra Martinez, a spokesperson for electricity company Edesur Argentina told Infobae.
Massive power blackout hits Argentina and Uruguay AJENews SinLuz T2gN5rp0Tv— мaттιaѕ wacнтмeιѕтer (@mattiaswac) June 16, 2019
