Posted on 09/28/2003 5:29:23 PM PDT by blam
Who put the lights out? Italy plunged into chaos by black-out
By Robin Gedye, Bruce Johnston in Rome and Henry Samuel in Paris
(Filed: 29/09/2003)
A tree uprooted by storms in Switzerland was blamed yesterday for paralysing electricity supplies across Italy when it cut a vital power line over the Alps.
All of Italy, except for the islands of Sardinia and Capri and small pockets of the mainland, along with areas of Switzerland and Austria, were hit by the 3.25am black-out.
Car headlights pierce the pre-dawn darkness in Rome after electricity supplies across Italy were knocked out by a falling tree in Switzerland
As power crashed across Europe, hospitals switched to emergency generators while people caught in the streets and night clubs feared a terrorist attack. More than 30,000 passengers on 110 trains were stranded and there were chaotic traffic scenes in the cities.
Power in Switzerland and Austria was quickly restored, but virtually all Italy's 56 million citizens awoke to find themselves without electricity.
In Rome, where many bars, museums and restaurants were staying open all night for a festival, half a million people were on the streets when the black-out struck.
Swiss, Italian and French authorities initially traded accusations over the unprecedented breakdown, but it later emerged that a fallen tree in Switzerland had brought down a 380,000-volt transmission line taking power to Italy. Another transmission line in Switzerland failed when it became overloaded.
According to Italian national grid operator GRTN, a four-second lapse in energy inflow from abroad triggered a domino effect on its network. "It collapsed just like when you remove one card from a house of cards," said a spokesman.
He said it was difficult to apportion blame because the systems were interconnected. Italy relies on imports for about a fifth of its electricity.
It was the fourth major Western black-out in two months, following cuts in North America, parts of London and Scandinavia. Late yesterday some areas in southern Italy were still without power.
Or Bush's policies?
One 'relay' brought down the entire Northeastern grid iin 1965 ...
Even though the story states: " a fallen tree in Switzerland had brought down a 380,000-volt transmission line" I take it that the authors of this story used literary license and are loosely using the term "brought down" the line.
Indeed, these are those LARGE towers carrying sets of three or six lines each (plus an overhead ground wire or two) ...
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