Posted on 11/05/2006 11:08:21 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
BERLIN — A shortage of electricity in Europe's power grid caused blackouts across the continent, halting trains, trapping people in lifts and plunging millions of homes into darkness.
Swathes of Germany and France were badly hit by the cuts late Saturday. Austria, Belgium, Italy and Spain were also affected.
A spokesman for German power company RWE AG said a shortfall in supplies to the European power grid caused many substations to shutdown automatically.
It was not immediately clear what caused the shortage.
Areas of western Germany were without power for a half-hour, delaying scores of trains for up to two hours, Deutsche Bahn spokesman Achim Stauss said.
Officials said thousands of worried citizens overwhelmed emergency services with telephone calls.
In France, about 5 million people were left without electricity, including many in the capital, Paris. In all, about 15 French regions were affected, firefighters said.
France Info radio quoted French power utility Electricite de France as saying that about 5 million people were still without power early Sunday, and that it was not sure when it would be able to bring consumers back online.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Ah, that superior Europe that the Democrats so love has struck again!
Incidentally, I wonder if we'll ever see a headline saying "Radical Muslim Shortage Causes Peace Across Europe."
North Korea hasn't had an outage in years.
Do we know the exact location of Gray Davis? And- How long until Bush is blamed?
"The private German power utility E-ON says reports of cuts began after it shut down a high voltage line in the northwest of the country. A company spokesman said the line over the river Ems was shut down so a Norwegian cruise ship was able to pass through safely.
This is almost as good as that squirrel in Ohio, whose electrocution in the summer of 2005 led to a blackout of the Northeast.
You must enact the Kyoto Protocol!
There was a time when the All-Electric House was being advertised, heavily advertised. Even in Fairbanks. Then one day it was 60 below and the power went out. For three days. Some ultra-modern houses were vacated. Haven't heard much advertising lately for the All-Electric House around here.
Or price controls, perhaps?
All electric house in a cold environment without a reliable backup power supply--sometimes I just have to laugh at people who consider themselves "engineers".
Word.
Greens--Socialist--all cut of the same fabric...all lead to the same results.
Europeans have their eyes squeezed shut and their fingers in their ears. They are determined to repeat the past.
Believe it or not there are still some all-electric residences being built even now. The City of Fairbanks went so far as to pass an ordinance restricting use of wood stoves. It wasn't 15 below that day, but it is today. I like all-electric, but I have a fall-back wood stove just in case, and candles ready to go. Sometimes when it is 20 below or colder, and it still gets down to 50-60 below Global Warming or not, I run the wood stove anyway. But I wonder who will come shivering to my door when the power goes out for a few days again. Even a few hours would do it for some, and that includes those on oil heat. Oil doesn't work without electricity, which means that all my neighbors will come shivering to my door because there is not a wood stove or fireplace in any of their cabins.
Am also grown skeptical of any kind of public service advertising, which is just a step above eyesight remedies.
And just two steps above gold futures.
They don't let you burn wood in Fairbanks!?
That's one thing I like about the old, oil drip stoves. They don't need electricity. There's a new one out that doesn't need electricity either, but I can't remember the name of it. I can't believe there are Alaskans who don't have a back-up heating system for when the power goes out.
Let 'em in. All that body warmth will accentuate the heat coming from your stove.
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