BUENOS AIRES — A blackout stripped all of mainland Argentina and Uruguay of power early Sunday, affecting tens of millions of people in an electrical failure that officials called unprecedented in its scope.

The cause remained under investigation by late Sunday, when power had been largely restored to both countries. Much of Argentina was hit by heavy rainfall over the weekend, and Uruguay’s state-owned utility, UTE, said some systems had been damaged by the recent rain and still needed to be repaired.

“This is the first time something like this has happened across the entire country,” said Alejandra Martínez, a spokeswoman for Edesur, an electricity company in Argentina that serves parts of Buenos Aires and its suburbs. She called it “a complete blackout in Argentina.”

The blackout may have affected a population greater than California’s, across a region four times the size of Texas: Argentina has more than 44 million people, and Uruguay about 3.5 million. </s> BUENOS AIRES: A massive outage blacked out Argentina and Uruguay Sunday, leaving both South American countries without electricity, power companies said.

Uruguay's system went down at 7:06 am (1006 GMT), according to the Uruguayan power company UTE, which attributed the outage to "a fault in the Argentine network."

Two Argentine power companies confirmed the failure knocked out electricity throughout Argentina, without specifying the cause.

"A massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left all Argentina and Uruguay without power," Edesur Argentina said on Twitter.

Edenor, Argentina's largest electricity distributor, attributed the outage to a "general failure in the interconnection system.

UTE said the failure left Uruguay's "entire national territory without service, as well as several provinces of the neighbour country. More than an hour after the blackout, UTE said its system was being brought back from zero.

"Some coastal cities already have service and work continues toward general restoration (of power)," it said." </s> A massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left Argentina and Uruguay without power, according to reports by local media.

Infobae, an Argentinian website, reported on Sunday that the country has been in the dark for more than an hour, and all trains were suspended.

Local media said the blackout started at around 07:00 local time (12:00 GMT).

Electricitycompany Edesur Argentina said in a tweet: "A massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left Argentina and Uruguay without power."

"Never has anything like this happened before," Alejandra Martinez, a spoksperson for the company told Infobae.

Social media reports on the blackout were widespread.

"Huge blackout in Argentina: the City, the Province of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe were left in the dark," a news agency posted on Twitter.

"What's happening with this blackout," a user on Twitter asked the government. </s> BUENOS AIRES: A massive outage blacked out Argentina and Uruguay on Sunday (Jun 16), leaving both South American countries without electricity, power companies said.

By mid-morning, streets were largely empty in a rainy Buenos Aires although some stores were open, operating with generators, while Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, was almost entirely without power with only some traffic lights working.

Uruguay's system went down at 7.06am (6.06pm Singapore time), according to the Uruguayan power company UTE, which attributed the outage to "a fault in the Argentine network".

"The causes are being investigated and have not yet been determined," Argentina's secretariat of energy said on its Twitter account, adding it would take "some hours" to restore power completely.

Argentina, with 44 million people, and Uruguay, with 3.4 million, have a common power grid centered on the bi-national Salto Grande dam, 450km north of Buenos Aires.

Two Argentine power companies confirmed that the failure knocked out electricity throughout Argentina, without specifying the cause.

"A massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left all Argentina and Uruguay without power," Edesur Argentina said on Twitter.

Edenor, Argentina's largest electricity distributor, attributed the outage to a "general failure in the interconnection system."

UTE said the failure left Uruguay's "entire national territory without service, as well as several provinces of the neighbor country."

More than an hour after the blackout, UTE said its system was being brought back "from zero".

"Some coastal cities already have service and work continues toward general restoration (of power)," it said. </s> The URL has been copied to your clipboard

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

Power is being restored to Argentina and Uruguay after a massive electrical failure left more than 44 million people without electricity on Sunday. A massive blackout was caused by an unexplained failure in the countries' interconnected power grid. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports </s> - Two entire South American nations are completely in the dark after a massive power failure that cut electricity to the 48 million people who live within their borders. Buenos Aires - Two entire South American nations are completely in the dark after a massive power failure that cut electricity to the 48 million people who live within their borders. 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. However, this still The Argentine Interconnection System handles the bulk of Argentina's electricity. It is 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. "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 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.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. </s> Buenos Aires, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jun, 2019 ) :Electricity services have been restored to more than 50 percent of Argentina and Uruguay following a massive blackout that left around 48 million people without power on Sunday, authorities said.

At around 3:30 pm (1830 GMT), Argentina's Energy Minister Gustavo Lopetegui said services had been restored in 56 percent of the country.

In neighboring Uruguay, the state power company UTE said power had returned to three-quarters of the country.

The cut, which happened just after 7:00 am, also affected Paraguay, which reported short, localized losses of power.

It was the first time a power cut had affected the entirety of both Argentina, with a population of more than 44 million, and Uruguay, which has 3.4 million inhabitants.

"These are failures that occur (even) with diligence. The amazing thing is the chain of events that took place to cause the total disconnection," Lopetegui told a press conference.

He said the outage took place "automatically to protect the system." "We don't have any more information right now on how it occurred. We're not ruling out any possibility, but a cyber attack is not among the main alternatives being considered." Argentina's energy secretariat said the "interconnection system" had "collapsed," producing "a massive power cut" for which its generators had been unable to compensate, but that the causes had not been determined.

Sources from the official energy agency of Paraguay, which borders Argentina to the northeast, told AFP that cuts there had been "momentary." - Hospitals, clinics on generators - A spokesperson for RGE, the biggest energy distributor in Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state that borders both Argentina and Uruguay, said they had had no reports of cuts.

By midday, power had returned to some sectors of Buenos Aires but the metro and trains were still halted.

Public hospitals and private clinics were running on generators.

"The only inconvenience is the elevators. We only have one working, but all services are operating without problems," said an employee at the Fernandez Hospital.

Earlier in the day, streets were largely empty in a rainy Buenos Aires, although some stores were open, operating with generators, while Montevideo was almost entirely without power, with only some traffic lights working.

It is Father's Day in Argentina and some restaurants were expecting many customers.

- 'This killed us' - "This killed us," Luciano Ferreira, the owner of a popular restaurant in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, told AFP.

The restaurant had been fully booked and Ferreira had been expecting to make two or three times as much money as a normal day.

Some people shared messages on WhatsApp with advice on how to prepare for a lengthy outage, such as collecting water.

In the interior plains region of Junin, residents stocked up on drinking water sold in supermarkets.

"Fortunately, we had two buckets on the patio that were filled with rain water. We've gone back to the Stone Age," Eduardo Gralatto told AFP.

In Cordoba, Argentina's second city, people headed to bakeries looking to buy supplies for the traditional Father's Day barbecue.

"We decided to open because we need to work, but early on we lost seven or eight tables of customers because we couldn't prepare coffee or bake bread," Carlos Arce, the owner of a bakery, told AFP.

Argentines also went to the polls in several provinces on Sunday to elect governors, with some local media reporting voters cast ballots by candle light.

In Montevideo, some restaurants in the downtown area had power back by 11:00 am (1400 GMT).

More than an hour after the blackout, UTE said its system was being brought back "from zero."Argentina and Uruguay have a common power grid centered on the bi-national Salto Grande dam, 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of Buenos Aires. </s> Almost the entirety of the nations of Argentina and Uruguay, were “completely without power” following a “massive failure” in an electrical system on Sunday, Bloomberg and CNN reported, with parts of Paraguay, Chile and southern Brazil seeing outages as well. The Associated Press estimated over 44 million people lost power.



Power has already been restored in some areas, such as Chile and parts of south and western Uruguay, CNN wrote, but many other areas are expected to have blackouts stretching throughout the day. Buenos Aires-based utility Edesur removed Paraguay and Uruguay from a list of countries totally without electricity, but it wasn’t clear how much of the grid in those nations was restored, CNN added:

In a statement on its website, Edesur said a “collapse” in its system occurred around 7 a.m. (6 a.m. ET). The outage “is the first generalized blackout that Argentina has had in its history,” Edesur spokesman Alejandra Martínez told CNN affiliate TN. Edesur is prioritizing any customer who depends on electricity for health reasons, it said, but because the power outage is so serious, anyone experiencing problems should go to a medical center.

Edesur is investigating the cause of the incident, but it told CNN that part of the Argentine Interconnection System at Yacyretá Dam on the Paraná River failed “without human intervention” early Sunday morning, resulting in an automatic shutdown. According to the New York Times, Argentina was hit by heavy rain this weekend and Uruguay’s state-owned utility, UTE, had said some systems damaged by the rain had yet to be repaired. 



According to Bloomberg, the Economic Ministry of Argentina said in a statement that a quarter of the affected areas in the country had power restored by 12:15 p.m. local time, and the capital of Buenos Aires is slowly being brought back online. The blackout delayed early voting in gubernatorial elections in the provinces of Santa Fe, Formosa, and San Luis, Bloomberg added; the province of Tierra del Fuego far to the south was unaffected as it is not connected to the national grid. Service in Uruguay is being restored more rapidly, according to the AP.

“Everything came to a halt,” Buenos Aires resident Juan Borges told the BBC. “Elevators, water pumps, everything. We were left adrift... There are some elderly people on the eighth floor but nothing happened, because the power cut was short. If it had gone on for longer it would have been a whole different story.” </s> Buenos Aires, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Jun, 2019 ) :Power was slowly being restored on Sunday after a massive outage blacked out Argentina and Uruguay, leaving around 48 million people without electricity, power companies said.

The cut, which happened just after 7:00 am (1000 GMT), also affected Paraguay, which reported short, localized losses of power.

Argentinian power company Edesur, which has 2.5 million customers, wrote on Twitter that "the restoration of the electric power service to the grid is slowly beginning." On a blog, Edesur said that 50,000 of its customers had power back.

For its part, Uruguay's state power company UTE said it was "continuing to restore the service." It said service was back in the northern part of the country above the Rio Negro river, as well as "part of the south coast and metropolitan area" around the capital Montevideo.

The outage was caused by "a collapse of the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI) which produced a massive power cut in the whole country and also affected Uruguay," said Argentina's energy secretariat in a statement quoted by local press.

"The causes are being investigated and have not yet been determined," it said on its Twitter account, adding that it would take "some hours" to restore power completely.

Edesur said the outage had affected in their entirety the two South American countries, which share a border along the River Plate.

Argentina has a population of more than 44 million while around 3.4 million people live in Uruguay.

Sources from the official energy agency of Paraguay, which borders Argentina to the northeast, told AP that cuts there had been "momentary." A spokesperson for RGE, the biggest energy distributor in Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state that borders both Argentina and Uruguay, said they had had no reports of cuts.

- Empty streets - By mid-morning, streets were largely empty in a rainy Buenos Aires although some stores were open, operating with generators, while Montevideo was almost entirely without power, with only some traffic lights working.

It is Father's Day in Argentina and some restaurants were expecting many customers.

In the Tobago bar in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, had been fully booked for lunch.

"It had to happen today," said 60-year-old waiter Pedro Salinas.

"They've cut off our legs," he added, using a famous phrase uttered by football great Diego Maradona when he was kicked out of the 1994 World Cup after testing positive for drugs.

Argentines are also going to the polls in several provinces on Sunday to elect governors, with some local media reporting voters cast ballots by candle light.

In Montevideo, some restaurants in the downtown area had power back by 11:00 am (1400 GMT).

More than an hour after the blackout, UTE said its system was being brought back "from zero."Argentina and Uruguay have a common power grid centered on the bi-national Salto Grande dam, 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of Buenos Aires.
A massive blackout hits Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, leaving millions without power.