Fortunately, Rome's sewage system relies mostly on gravity, not computer-driven parts, mayoral aides said. Key government buildings are also getting generators, and a special electrical transmission cable was installed at the Vatican. Police officials are being trained to use satellite telephones, because their normal frequencies are likely to be swamped. One thousand new patrolmen will be deputized on Dec. 30. The country's largest supplier of electricity, ENEL, will generate a third more power than it usually does, but otherwise expresses confidence that no major outages will occur.
City officials are less sanguine.
They predict that the bug may cause thousands of burglar alarms to sound at once, and also warn that mobile phones will crash, in part because of scattered electrical outages at homes and buildings supplied by a second electrical firm, city-owned Acea. Acea's equipment is so antiquated it must be reset by hand at substations, so the firm is stationing technically trained runners at key locations around the city on New Year's Eve. Special correspondent Sarah Delaney contributed to this report. News Jobs AP Shopping Archives Entertain.